Obama targets Wayne County gap in Detroit rally for El-Sayed
The former president campaigned on the first day of early voting, focusing on health care and local polling numbers.
By Alina Marshall ·
Early voting opened in Michigan on Saturday, October 24, and Barack Obama used the day to launch a direct push for Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit.
The former president addressed thousands of people at Cass Technical High School, marking his first public endorsement of the Democratic Senate nominee. El-Sayed, a doctor and former Wayne county health official, won a contentious primary in August against Haley Stevens, a moderate congresswoman backed by the establishment.
Obama pointed to a specific deficit in the race. In the August primary, Stevens defeated El-Sayed in Wayne county by roughly 51 percent to 45 percent. The former president argued that El-Sayed would complete the work of the Affordable Care Act to guarantee affordable health insurance for all Americans.
The campaign also featured Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, and former senator Elissa Slotkin. Slotkin told the crowd that Michigan voters prefer electing fighters and that her and El-Sayed's differences are minor compared to their shared goal of checking the president's power.
Obama spent time criticizing Donald Trump and the Republican administration. He accused Trump of enriching his family and selling favors. The former president also mocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for focusing on troop aesthetics and joked about Trump's renovations to the White House ballroom and Rose Garden.
The Detroit stop was the second leg of Obama's first in-person campaigning weekend. He began the day in Cleveland, Ohio, where he supported former senator Sherrod Brown and governor nominee Amy Acton. The former president acknowledged past disagreements with El-Sayed over the Affordable Care Act, noting that they do not agree on every detail.
El-Sayed faces Mike Rogers in the general election on November 3. Rogers, a former congressman endorsed by Trump, lost to Slotkin by less than half a percentage point in 2024. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. A mid-October Marist poll showed El-Sayed at 50 percent and Rogers at 48 percent, a difference within the margin of error.
Trump is scheduled to rally in Port Huron on Sunday, the first presidential visit to St. Clair county. If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim and first Egyptian American in the US Senate. Benson will face John James, a Republican congressman, in the governor's race.
Source: The Guardian
