Democrat Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is leaning on the political legacy of Barack Obama as he attempts to unify a fractured Democrat base ahead of Novembers general election.
According to The Post Millennial, El-Sayed told The Detroit News he had an "encouraging" phone call with the former president after narrowly defeating moderate Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly 20,000 votes in the primary. The outlet reported that the conversation focused on how to bring together Michigan Democrats, even as El-Sayeds support skewed toward affluent, highly educated voters while the working-class vote largely went to his opponent.
Sometimes, you really should meet your heroes," El-Sayed said of his discussions with Obama, framing the call as a personal and political milestone. He added that "I've got to be honest with you: It was the first time I ever saw myself reflected in politics at all," underscoring how he views Obamas rise as a model for his own candidacy.
The Senate hopeful has staked out positions firmly on the far-left, including his support to "abolish ICE" and his endorsement of "Medicare for all." El-Sayed also backs abolishing immigration and customs enforcement in the United States, a stance that places him at odds with voters who prioritize border security and law enforcement.
Obama, who carried Michigan in both 2008 and 2012, could provide crucial backing for El-Sayeds Senate bid despite mounting controversies surrounding the candidate. That support may prove vital as Republicans highlight El-Sayeds record and rhetoric as emblematic of a Democrat Party increasingly captured by its radical wing.
In March, leaked audio exposed El-Sayeds reluctance to address the death of Iranian regime leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by US and Israeli forces. He claimed "there are a lot of people in Dearborn who [were] sad" over Khamenei's death, a remark likely to alarm voters wary of sympathy for a hostile theocratic regime.
In strategizing how to deflect questions about Khamenei, El-Sayed said advisers should "go straight to pedophilia, frankly." He elaborated on the tactic by saying, "I'll just be like, 'Pedophile president decides that he doesn't like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war,'" a statement that appears to refer to President Donald Trump in crude and inflammatory terms.
El-Sayed has also aligned himself with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who has previously claimed America "deserved 9/11" and urged that socialists should "kill those motherf*ckers" when speaking about landlords. When pressed on Piker's 9/11 comments, El-Sayed dismissed them as a "dumb statement," yet notably refused to distance himself from Piker or halt campaigning with him, a decision that underscores the ideological direction of his campaign and offers Republicans ample material to question his judgment and values.
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