Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez rally for El-Sayed in Michigan Senate primary
Progressive duo cast race as democracy against oligarchy, backing candidate who has sworn off corporate money
DETROIT (MNTV) — Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw their weight behind Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, framing the contest as a fight between working-class priorities and corporate power.
At a Detroit rally, Sanders called it a struggle between democracy and oligarchy, casting El-Sayed as a check on billionaire influence and political spending.
Ocasio-Cortez faulted a party establishment she said keeps reaching for the same approaches while economic pressure on ordinary Americans goes unaddressed.
El-Sayed, a former Detroit and Wayne County health director, has built his campaign on inequality, healthcare access, and curbing corporate power, pledging to refuse corporate donations, back Medicare for All, raise taxes on billionaires, restrict stock buybacks, and tighten regulation.
The primary has become a national referendum on the party’s direction: El-Sayed on the progressive wing, Representative Haley Stevens presenting herself as the moderate with broader general-election reach against Republican nominee Mike Rogers.
Their divide runs through healthcare, economic policy, and foreign policy — El-Sayed has criticized pro-Israel lobbying groups and argued foreign policy spending shouldn’t crowd out domestic needs, while Stevens emphasizes restoring ACA subsidies and incremental expansion.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is among the labor leaders backing El-Sayed, arguing the party must speak better to working-class voters.
With Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez using the race to advance a broader movement against establishment leadership, the result will register how much appetite there is for progressive politics in a battleground state —
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