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Michelle Obama on 2014 midterms: Be hungry, Democrats

The first lady is working to get out the vote this November, in hopes of counteracting historically low midterm turnout.
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2014.
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2014.

First lady Michelle Obama is working hard to get out the vote this November, in hopes of counteracting Democrats’ historically low midterm turnout.

“It's simple: you deserve a Congress that will work for you and your family," she said in a video released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Sunday. The video announces a new effort to get one million people to pledge their votes online ahead of the November midterms and comes amid several fundraising events headlined by the first lady in Chicago (last week) and Washington, D.C. (today).

In the video, Mrs. Obama says that to accomplish progressive priorities like equal pay, immigration reform, and a minimum wage hike, the president needs a cooperative Congress. It’s a message the president echoed last week at a DCCC fundraiser. 

“As much as I can do as president of the United States, I cannot do it alone,” the president said, stressing the importance of having good Democrats in Congress.    

“When it comes to the midterm elections this November, we need you to be as passionate and as hungry as you were back in 2008 and 2012,” Mrs. Obama said in the video.

“In fact you need to be even more passionate and more hungry to get Democrats elected to Congress because these elections will be even harder and even closer than those presidential elections,” she continues. “We are talking about races that are won and lost by just a few thousand voters or even a few hundred votes.”

Voters who fill out the onemillionvotesfor2014.com pledge are then prompted to give the DCCC more information to receive a sticker commemorating their pledge and share their pledge with your social networks.