Obama Calls Republican Candidates 'Not Serious' Before Midterms

Former President Barack Obama told a campaign crowd that Republican candidates backed by President Trump are "not serious people," according to The Guardian's US politics live blog, updated Oct. 29, 2026, as both men crossed the country roughly six days before congressional elections that will decide control of Washington.

The overlap was not a coincidence of scheduling so much as a pattern the Guardian's live coverage has tracked for days: Trump holding rallies for Republican Senate and House candidates while Obama works parallel stops for Democrats, with the two men's messages increasingly aimed at each other rather than at undecided voters.

What did Obama say about Republicans this week?

Obama's sharpest line, per the Guardian's live blog, was a blunt assessment of the GOP field Trump is campaigning for: "these are not serious people." The former president paired that with a jab at Trump's Oval Office redecoration, telling a crowd in Ohio, as reported by the Guardian, that the White House now looks "like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere."

"He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere." — Barack Obama, quoted in The Guardian's live blog, Oct. 29, 2026

The line traveled fast enough that the Guardian devoted a separate item to unpacking it: the chain opened its first restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1978 and now operates hundreds of locations across the US and Canada, the outlet noted, a detail that turned a punchline about gold trim into what the paper called the week's "culture-war touchstone." Separately, a Guardian photo caption placed Obama at a rally for Democratic candidates in Georgia the same week, underscoring how many states both former and sitting presidents are covering in the campaign's final stretch.

What is Trump doing in the final week of the campaign?

The Guardian's live blog frames Trump's side of the week in equally direct terms: he is holding rallies for Republican candidates in the same closing days that Obama is stumping for Democrats. The outlet's coverage does not specify every stop, but it ties the rallies directly to the subhead framing of the day's post — a live, hour-by-hour accounting of both men's barbs as polls approach.

What did a federal judge decide about California's ballots?

A federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate ballots cast by people the Trump administration claims are noncitizens, according to the Guardian's live blog. The outlet characterizes the Justice Department's request as "legally thin" and says it appeared "designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms." The ruling leaves California's ballot-counting process unchanged heading into election day, per that reporting; the Guardian's live coverage does not report whether the Justice Department plans to appeal.

Why did a Democratic congresswoman's fiancé show up at a Republican rally?

In one of the stranger data points in Thursday's live blog, Jason Turkish — who is engaged to Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens — appeared at a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan, the Guardian reported. The outlet's live coverage flags the appearance without further detail on Turkish's remarks or his relationship to Stevens' own campaign activity, leaving the episode as one more thread in a closing week defined by crossover moments between the parties.

How close is the fight for control of Congress?

The Guardian frames the stakes in a single structural fact: congressional races set for early next week "could shift the balance of power in Washington," with less than a week remaining before voters decide. The live blog does not publish seat-by-seat projections or polling averages in the material reviewed here, keeping the week's coverage focused on candidate travel, legal disputes over ballot handling, and the Obama-Trump exchange rather than horse-race numbers.

The Guardian's live blog is continuing to update through election day, tracking additional rallies, court filings, and reaction from both parties as the final days of the midterm campaign play out.