Michelle Obama has released a star-studded video urging Americans to get ready to vote.
The former First Lady enlisted her celebrity friends Steph Curry and Kerry Washington to explain the importance of the concept, along with others like Megan Rapinoe, Shonda Rhimes and Chris Paul.
Country singer Reyna Roberts also made an appearance, as did Filipino-American beauty influencer Bretman Rock. They all urged viewers to start thinking about their preferred candidate ahead of the US election, at the urging of When We All Vote.
Obama launched the nonpartisan campaign in 2018 to boost voter turnout. The video comes days after she and Barack declared their allegiance to Kamala Harris.
The ad opens with the stars receiving a sudden phone call from the former first lady, who sternly asks each of them, “Are you voting this year?”
Scroll down to watch the video:
Michelle Obama posted a video urging Americans to get ready to vote on Sunday, days after declaring her allegiance to Kamala Harris alongside her husband.
Rapinoe, a Democrat who has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, was the first to respond.
“Yes, absolutely,” the retired USWNT player proudly replies, as a split screen shows her and her progressive teammate.
“Of course I am!” Rhimes, a prominent television producer, chimes in at this point.
“One hundred percent yes!” exclaims Roberts, a Black woman who has been advocating for inclusion in the music industry since she came out in 2020.
“Obviously!” adds Washington, as everyone is seen responding to Obama’s figurative and literal call.
“You know that,” adds San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul, seen playing alongside his 15-year-old son, Chris Jr.
After his segment, Obama appears on screen again, this time telling viewers: “Now, it’s your turn to answer the call,” before reminding them that the election is “just 100 days away.”
In that time, Democrats will have to come up with a concrete candidate following Joe Biden’s last-minute change of position, after which his vice president Harris has emerged as the heir apparent.
Biden himself took 23 minutes to endorse his former running mate before announcing his decision to withdraw on July 21, while the Obamas took the better part of an entire week.
The former First Lady recruited famous friends like Chris Paul and Steph Curry to explain the importance of the concept, with less than 100 days until the election.
Rapinoe, an outspoken Democrat who has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, was the first to heed Obama’s figurative and literal call, in an ad packed with outspoken progressives.
Among them were television producer Shonda Rhimes and Filipino-American beauty influencer Bretman Rock, who urged viewers to start thinking about their preferred candidate.
They all issued a collective “Join us” message before Obama finished, “registering and getting ready to vote with When We All Vote today,” promoting the supposedly nonpartisan national initiative in which everyone serves as president.
The video shared Sunday, a week later, made no such endorsement, but with the cast of characters in play, it did not appear to lean toward any conservative.
Obama, 60, seemed to dispel any doubts when he specifically cited issues such as “reproductive rights (and) the environment,” considered “our future” to be decided “at the ballot box.”
“So, are you voting this year?” the Chicago native continues, a question then repeated by Rhimes, Paul and Rock, respectively.
“Join me,” Roberts says then.
“Join me,” Curry adds, before a collective “Join us,” with Obama concluding, “by registering and getting ready to vote with When We All Vote today.”
“Text ‘Join’ to 56005,” the message concludes, ending an ad full of self-proclaimed progressives.
All but Roberts serve as chairmen of the supposedly nonpartisan initiative, which is also led by celebrities including Tom Hanks and Selena Gomez.
Jennifer Lopez and Lin Manuel Miranda also act as presidents, as does actress Rita Wilson.
Paul was a staunch supporter of Obama and even a minor member of the president’s administration, as was the case with Curry.
Harris’ campaign released a video early Friday showing former President Barack Obama and the former first lady calling the vice president to officially endorse her presidential bid.
Rapinoe and Rimes are also outspoken Democrats, and both have at one point criticized former President Trump.
Rock, a gay man, and Roberts, a devout Christian, have been less vocal with their views, but both have fought for greater representation of marginalized people in the media, particularly of their respective races and/or gender identities.
While important, these causes are seen by Republicans not as priorities but as points of contention for the left, a faction that is currently in the midst of a certain chaos while an official candidate remains up in the air.
Referring to a video released by Harris’ team showing Michelle and Barack expressing their support for him over the phone, a Democratic official told DailyMail.com that the former president wanted to make something “more than just a statement.”
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, added that the announcement was delayed so as not to overshadow President Joe Biden’s speech in the Oval Office on Wednesday night.
“I can’t make this phone call without telling my girl Kamala that I’m proud of you,” Michelle is heard telling Harris in the clip. “This is going to be historic.”
“We’re calling to tell you, Michelle and I, that we couldn’t be more proud to endorse you and do everything we can to help you get through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president added.
“We’re calling to tell you that Michelle and I are so proud to support you and do everything we can to help you get through this election and into the Oval Office,” the former president said at one point during the three-way call. He and Michelle are pictured in 2019 during an Obama Foundation summit in Chicago.
Prior to the endorsement announcement, the Trump campaign issued its own statement, indicating that Trump would not finalize the debate schedule until “Democrats formally decide on their nominee.”
“There is a strong sense among many in the Democratic Party — specifically Barack Hussein Obama — that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who can’t beat President Trump, and they are still waiting for someone ‘better,'” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Harris thanked both Obamas before hanging up the phone in Wednesday’s video.
“I just want to say that the words you’ve spoken and the friendship you’ve given me over the years mean more than I can express,” she said. “So thank you both, it means a lot.”
“And we’re going to have some fun too, aren’t we?” he continued asking.
To which Michelle replied: “Of course!” and the former president added: “Well… look, you are a happy warrior.”
“And the country needs a happy warrior,” Michelle said, as the Democratic nomination process, which will be held virtually before the convention in Chicago, is about to conclude on August 7.
By then a candidate will have already been declared.
