Obama, John Legend and Bruce Springsteen rally thousands of Philadelphia voters

Former President Barack Obama was joined by John Legend and Bruch Springsteen and rallied several thousand supporters at a raucous Liacouras Center. Obama urged Pennsylvanians to vote early, which ends on Tuesday. 

Musicians Bruce Springsteen and John Legend stepped on stage at a jam-packed Liacouras Center on Monday with former President Barack Obama, rallying over 10,000 Kamala Harris supporters on Temple University’s campus. 

“Philadelphia, we are ready for a President Kamala Harris,” Obama told the crowd. 

“And the good news is Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion. Kamala wasn’t born into privilege. She was born into a middle class family, and worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay for her expenses.”

“She didn’t just pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed.”

Obama addressed the racism and bigotry that was on display during Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and made a pitch to Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community after one of Trump’s speakers compared Puerto Rico to an “island of garbage.” 

“The man holds this big rally at Madison Square Garden, and the warm-up speakers were saying the most – were trotting out and peddling the most –  racist, sexist, bigoted stereotypes,” Obama said.

“One guy called Puerto Rico, quote, ‘an island of garbage.’ These are fellow citizens he’s talking about. Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors, they are your friends, they are your co-workers. Their kids go to school with your kids.” 

Legend and Springsteen opened for the former president by treating the packed Liacouras Center to a trio of songs. Both of the artists took time to speak in support of Harris and warned the crowd about the dangers of a second Donald Trump presidency. 

“[Trump] talked big about the working class, but who did he really serve,” Legend asked between songs. 

“Wall Street billionaires, big corporations, whichever dictator wrote him a nice note that gave him a hug, and while Americans were asking for help, he handed out tax cuts to the wealthy, fought to strip families of affordable healthcare and cheered on the bans that ripped away women’s reproductive freedom.”

This was Obama’s second trip to Pennsylvania stumping for Harris in over the past month. Obama launched a swing state tour in Pittsburgh earlier this month. 

Obama urged Philadelphia residents, and the rest of Pennsylvania, to take advantage of early voting, which comes to a close on Tuesday. Voters are able to go to their county board of elections offices or a satellite office to apply for and return a mail-in ballot at a local drop-box.

Tuesday is also the last day for voters to apply for their mail-in ballots ahead of next week’s election. 

“If you plan to vote early in person, tomorrow is your last chance. Do it tomorrow,” Obama said. 

Do not dilly or dally. Get out there. Vote. If you got a mail ballot, return it right now. You don’t want to be wigging out and looking down ‘oh man.’ You don’t want to be that person.”