Former president Barack Obama campaigned in Detroit on Saturday for Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the party’s nominee for the US Senate in Michigan, in his first public show of support for El-Sayed since the August primary.
Obama headlined an evening get-out-the-vote rally at Cass Technical High School on the first day of Michigan’s in-person early voting period. He told a crowd of thousands that El-Sayed would finish the work started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable health care to every American, according to The Guardian.
El-Sayed, a doctor and former Wayne County health official, won the Democratic nomination in August against moderate congresswoman Haley Stevens. Obama stayed neutral during that primary. The two spoke by telephone after the result, and El-Sayed has since described Obama as a mentor.
Obama also backed Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state and the Democratic candidate for governor. The Detroit News reported more than 4,000 people attended, with around 1,000 more watching a video feed in an overflow theatre.
The Senate race is rated a toss-up. El-Sayed faces Republican former congressman Mike Rogers, who is backed by President Donald Trump. A mid-October Marist poll put El-Sayed at 50 percent and Rogers at 48 percent, within the margin of error.
If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim and the first Egyptian American to serve in the US Senate. Michigan voters go to the polls on 3 November, and Trump is scheduled to hold a competing campaign event in Port Huron on Sunday.
Source: The Guardian
