At Campaign Stop, Members of Crowd Leave While Obama Speaks

At a Maryland campaign stop Sunday, members of the crowd at a Democratic campaign rally left as President Obama was still speaking.

Obama attended a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown in Upper Marlboro, Md. Brown is currently the lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former law school classmate of Obama’s.

During the president’s speech, members of the crowd started to leave, according to Politico:

The crowd was energetic in waiting for the president and in welcoming him to the stage, but once the president started speaking, the crowd began streaming out, a few at first, but then by the dozen once Obama was about 10 minutes into his talk.

Politico notes that the “vast majority” of the crowd of roughly 8,000 stayed for the whole event.

Upper Marlboro, in Prince George’s county in Maryland, was described by Politico as “Obama country.” The county is home to Barack Obama Elementary School and Obama carried 90 percent of its vote in 2012.

During his speech, Obama spoke about immigration reform and attempted to energize voters. “Go find your friends to vote. Get your cousin to vote. Get your uncle to vote,” said Obama.

The president was also briefly interrupted by a heckler.

Reuters reported that the “early departures of crowd members while he spoke underscored [the president’s] continuing unpopularity.”

The event was the president’s first official campaign stop in the 2014 election cycle. Between now and Election Day, Obama is scheduled to campaign for the democratic gubernatorial candidates in Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.