Barack Obama cuts new ads in major Senate races

Former President Barack Obama is wading into three key Senate campaigns, including the battleground race in Michigan, endorsing Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and starring in a new ad for her as some voters start to receive absentee ballots in the critical state.

Friday marks the first time this election that voters will see a Senate ad from Obama as Democrats try to keep hold of the chamber, where they hold a 51-49 advantage. The former president is also getting involved in blue Maryland and a long-shot race in Florida, with ads backing Democrats Angela Alsobrooks and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, respectively.

In Michigan, Slotkin is running against GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

The new ad, called “Make You Proud,” features Obama underscoring Slotkin’s national security experience before she represented Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. The roughly minute-long ad will appear digitally and on radio stations statewide.

“In the Situation Room, Elissa delivered national security briefings on some of the toughest issues we were dealing with. That’s why I sent Elissa to negotiate on my behalf because she understood when to compromise and when to stand firm,” Obama says in the ad. “And it’s why I nominated her to be an assistant secretary of defense.”

In the final weeks of the campaign season, Obama is also set to record additional ads and robocalls for down-ballot candidates, sign fundraising emails and appear at get-out-the-vote events.

In Maryland, he’s trying to help Democrats shut out former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, who gained cross-partisan popularity during his time in office, from taking a longtime Democratic Senate seat.

“As state’s attorney, she helped cut violent