El-Sayed Polls at 50% as Obama Joins Campaign Trail in Detroit
A Marist survey in mid-October showed the Democratic Senate nominee leading Republican Mike Rogers 50% to 48%, within the margin of error.
By Tunde Adeyemi ·
Barack Obama appeared in Detroit on Saturday, Oct. 25, to campaign for Abdul El-Sayed, and a mid-October Marist poll of likely Michigan voters had the Democratic nominee at 50% against Republican Mike Rogers at 48%. The rally at Cass Technical High School took place on the first day of early voting ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, the party's candidate for governor, also spoke at the event.
Obama told the crowd El-Sayed would 'finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable healthcare to every single American.' The former president also accused Donald Trump of 'enriching himself and his family' and of setting a 'culture . at the top' of taking favors. Obama said he had 'Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this.'
The Detroit rally was Obama's first public show of support for El-Sayed, a doctor and former Wayne county health official. The two men had differed on policy in the past: El-Sayed, who supports Medicare for All, once called the Affordable Care Act an incremental fix. Obama addressed the point directly. 'We are not going to agree on every detail of every issue,' he said. 'You know who else doesn't agree with everything I do? Michelle Obama.'
El-Sayed has ground to make up in Wayne county, where Detroit is the county seat. Stevens beat him there in the August primaries by about 51% to 45%. A RealClearPolitics average in a similar timeframe showed El-Sayed ahead by about 2.6 points, and the Cook Political Report rates the contest a toss-up. Republicans have not held a Michigan Senate seat in 25 years.
El-Sayed faces Mike Rogers, a former congressman endorsed by Trump. Trump has attacked El-Sayed during the campaign, calling him a ' Jihadist' and alleging ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which El-Sayed denies. If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim and first Egyptian American in the US Senate.
The Detroit stop was part of Obama's first weekend of in-person campaigning during the midterms, which began earlier in the day in Cleveland, Ohio, where he stumped for former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown and Democratic governor nominee Amy Acton. Slotkin, a featured speaker at the rally, told the crowd that 'Michigan believes in electing fighters.' Closing his case, Obama said: 'We share those values of making sure everybody gets a fair shot in this society, and that the system's not just run for those at the top.'
El-Sayed faces Mike Rogers, a former congressman endorsed by Trump who lost a 2024 Senate matchup against Democratic senator Elissa Slotkin by less than half a percentage point. Benson faces Republican congressman John James, whose victory would make him Michigan's first Black governor. Trump is due in Michigan on Sunday for a rally with state Republicans in Port Huron, on the Canadian border.
Source: The Guardian
