Obama to join El-Sayed as progressive tests Democratic orthodoxy
Former president will rally in Detroit for Michigan Senate nominee, whose anti-war, anti-corporate campaign has unsettled the party establishment
DETROIT (MNTV) — Former President Barack Obama will campaign with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit on Oct. 24, a major boost for a progressive whose primary win exposed deep Democratic divisions over money, foreign policy and the party’s direction.
Obama will appear with El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson on the first day of Michigan’s early voting, 10 days before the Nov. 3 election.
El-Sayed, a physician and former county health director, beat Rep. Haley Stevens by under a point in August despite being heavily outspent, campaigning on Medicare for All and a rejection of corporate PAC money, with backing from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
His opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel — and his description of Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide — made him one of the party’s strongest voices on the issue and triggered record spending against him: AIPAC and allies spent some $30 million in the primary, outspending his side nearly nine to one. A late-September Marist poll put him ahead of Republican Mike Rogers 51 percent to 44.
The clash over foreign policy spilled onto air this week when El-Sayed sparred with Fox News host Martha MacCallum over the Iran war, arguing that military power does not automatically produce security and that diplomacy was abandoned too soon; Trump later called him a “total communist” at his Nebraska rally.
El-Sayed’s campaign carries a tension of its own — despite its anti-corporate message, it has courted high-dollar donors, with one New York fundraiser reportedly seeking up to $57,800 per donor across allied committees.
Obama’s appearance nonetheless places the party establishment behind a candidate who has challenged much of its orthodoxy.
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