(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — First lady Michelle Obama stumped for Democrats in Iowa and Minnesota Tuesday, calling on the young and minority voters who powered her husband’s rise to the presidency to help the party avoid a potentially bruising midterm election.
Mrs. Obama first urged college students and supporters at the University of Iowa to vote early and volunteer for Bruce Braley, who is in a tight Senate race against Republican Joni Ernst. She delivered a similar rallying cry to a mostly black crowd later Tuesday at a high school in Minneapolis, where Sen. Al Franken and fellow Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton are counting on turnout from those groups.
Tuesday’s stop in Iowa City was Mrs. Obama’s second trip to this month to shore up support for Braley, whose win may be crucial to Democrats’ maintaining control of the Senate.