Obama hits the airwaves in Michigan for El-Sayed’s Senate bid
by Seth McLaughlin · The Washington TimesFormer President Barack Obama is out with a new ad backing Democrat Abdul El‑Sayed — and he’s framing the Michigan Senate race as a test of America’s core promise.
Less than a month before Election Day, the former president is urging voters to see the contest between Mr. El-Sayed and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers as a fight over who benefits from the country’s founding ideals.
In a new ad released ahead of his scheduled visit to the state later this month, Mr. Obama invokes the nation’s 250th anniversary.
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“250 years ago, America was founded on a simple idea,” he says. “This country belongs to all of us, not just the wealthy, not just the well-connected, everyone. Today, that idea is under attack, and Michigan is where we fight back.”
Mr. Obama casts Mr. El‑Sayed, a former Detroit health official, as someone who’s taken on “special interests” and pushed for “good jobs, better healthcare, and lower costs.” He says Mr. El‑Sayed “has never taken corporate money,” believes healthcare is a human right, and wants the country to “invest here instead of wasting money on endless wars.”
The ad ends with a call to action: make a plan to vote.
Mr. El-Sayed leads Mr. Rogers by 3 percentage points in the latest Real Clear Politics average of polls. Republicans, though, say they are confident Mr. Rogers is gaining momentum and he is in a much stronger position than the polls suggest.
Mr. Obama is set to headline an Oct. 24 rally in Detroit — part of the campaign’s final sprint to boost turnout among Black voters in Wayne County, along with younger voters and independents.
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Mr. Obama carried Michigan in the 2008 and 2012 elections. He also picked up where former President George W. Bush left off with the federal auto industry bailout, which funneled billions of dollars into General Motors and Chrysler during the financial crisis.
Advocates said the rescue was necessary to save hundreds of thousands of jobs and buoy the nation’s manufacturing base. Critics said it put taxpayers on the hook for saving private companies.
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Seth McLaughlin
smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com
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