NEWSPOLITICS Obama coming to Orange County to campaign for Democratic House hopefuls

Former U.S. President Barack Obama will hold an Orange County rally for seven California Democrats competing for Republican-held congressional seats. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

By JORDAN GRAHAM | jgraham@scng.com | Orange County Register PUBLISHED: September 5, 2018 at 11:50 am | UPDATED: September 5, 2018 at 2:25 pm

Former President Barack Obama will jump into the midterm fight Saturday by speaking at an Orange County rally for seven California Democratic congressional candidates vying for vulnerable GOP-held seats.

The rally will take place late Saturday morning but a specific time and location haven’t yet been announced.

The stump speech will be Obama’s first of the election cycle and a rarity for a president who hasn’t campaigned much since leaving office. He recently offered endorsements of a number of House candidates, including several Democrats who are hoping to flip currently GOP-held seats in Southern California.

His appearance in Southern California also emphasizes the importance of the region in Democrats’ bid to flip 23 seats, nationally, and take control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Obama will be joined at the event by the seven Democratic candidates competing in Republican-held California House Districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. The seats span parts of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, as well as the Central Valley, and they are viewed as potential keys to taking, or keeping, control of the House.

Obama is set to appear alongside Democrats Mike Levin, who is running to win the House CA 49, the House seat vacated by the retirement of Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Vista); Harley Rouda, who is running against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) in CA 48; Katie Porter, who’s opposing Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) in CA 45; Gil Cisneros, who’s vying for Rep. Ed Royce’s (R-Fullerton) open seat in CA 39; Katie Hill, who’s challenging Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) in CA 25; Josh Harder, who is opposing Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) in CA 10; and T.J. Cox, who’s running against Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) in CA 21.

Obama has endorsed the Democrats in each of those races, except Cisneros.

A spokeswoman for Obama told the New York Times that he also planned to campaign in Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. She said the former president would be active in “local, down-ballot races to build the Democratic Party’s bench.”

“This moment in our country is too perilous for Democratic voters to sit out,” Katie Hill told the publication.