“Officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee briefed party strategists this month on plans to conduct research in several states, including New Jersey and Virginia, to identify issues most likely to motivate minority voting in 2018.”


DUMFRIES, Va. — President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since leaving office, trying to rally black voters behind candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey amid warnings that they may not come out in force on an Election Day that is just three weeks away.

Mr. Obama’s appearances on behalf of Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Ralph S. Northam, in Richmond and the financier Philip D. Murphy in Newark — two white candidates in predominantly black cities — come as Democrats struggle to inspire African-Americans to vote this year. While Mr. Murphy appears comfortably in the lead in New Jersey, the race in Virginia is close.

Click to continue reading. By JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEXANDER BURNS – 10/19/2017.