President Barack Obama is worried that the black vote "is not as solid as it needs to be" for Hillary Clinton.
During an appearance on the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show, Obama stressed the importance of voting for someone who will continue his legacy.
"I know that a lot of people in the barbershops and the beauty salons and, you know, in the neighborhoods, who are saying to themselves, ‘Well, you know, we love Barack. We especially love Michelle. And so it was exciting, and now we’re not excited as much,’” the president said, Politico reports.
"You know what? I need everybody to understand that everything we’ve done is dependent on me being able to pass the baton to somebody who believes in the same things that I believe in. So if you really care about my presidency and what we’ve accomplished, then you are going to go and vote," Obama said.
The president added that while early voting is up among Latino voters, it's down among black voters. Obama warned that if Republican Donald Trump is elected, he would destroy the progress that the president has made, including pulling up first lady Michelle's vegetable garden.
"You think I'm joking?" Obama asked.
Later Wednesday, Obama campaigned for Clinton in Chapel Hill, N.C., a battleground state Obama lost by just 92,000 votes four years ago. Politico notes that "the number of black voters casting ballots early is down 16 percent compared with 2012."
Obama told an excited crowd of those gathered in North Carolina that a federal court had struck down an election-law change because it "targeted black voters with surgical precision."
So "it's easier to vote than ever" in North Carolina, Obama said. "What's our excuse?" the Associated Press reports.
Read more at Politico and The Associated Press.