Former President Barack Obama took a public step back into the electoral arena on Wednesday, issuing a slate of 81 endorsements for Democrats running in the 2018 elections and giving his stamp of approval to more than a dozen veterans of his administration and election campaigns who are seeking office in their own right.

Among the most prominent candidates to earn his backing were Richard Cordray, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who is running for governor of Ohio; J.B. Pritzker, the private equity executive and Hyatt Hotels heir who is the party’s nominee for governor in Illinois; and Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader who is vying to become the first African-American woman elected governor of a state.

But Mr. Obama also extended his political blessing to Democrats running far down the ballot, backing legislative candidates in states such as North Carolina and Texas, as well as Democrats running for relatively low-profile offices, including secretary of agriculture in Iowa, state auditor in Ohio and lieutenant governor in California and Illinois.