Dozens of former Obama administration officials are running for office this year, largely in opposition to President Trump and his policies, NBC News reported Sunday.
At least 64 former Obama staffers are running for federal, state or local office this year, according to the network, which cited numbers obtained from the Obama Alumni Association.
The group said it expects that number to rise as more Obama alums contact it about their bids. Some states also have yet to hold primaries, giving more former staffers the chance to announce campaigns.
At least 28 of those Obama officials are running for the House of Representatives, according to NBC News, which said five have won their primaries so far and one has lost.
Many of the candidates told the network that Trump and his administration motivated them to run for office.
Tom Malinowski, the former assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor who is running as a Democrat for the House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, blasted Republicans for their "active complicity" in enacting Trump's agenda.
“Looking back on last year, it was the effort to take down the Affordable Care Act with no viable replacement," Malinowski told NBC of Trump's policies. "It was the Muslim ban, and attacks on immigrants, it was the tearing up of alliances and commitments internationally. It was the taking down of environmental protections, it was refusing to invest in infrastructure as Trump had promised."
“A lot of us Obama babies were inspired by the president's call to action when he retired,” said Ammar Campa-Najjar, former Obama staffer at the White House and Department of Labor, who is running for Congress in California’s 50th Congressional District.
And former Obama campaign staffer Deb Haaland, a Democrat running in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, would be the country’s first Native American congresswoman.
“I feel like if I hadn't worked for the president, I would never have had the courage or the wherewithal to run,” Haaland told the network. "I think about him every single day."