Former President Barack Obama delivered a forceful rebuke of the administration of Donald Trump, as he rallied voters in Detroit to head to the polls ahead of the midterm elections just ten days away.
Obama joined a host of Michigan Democratic hopefuls, including former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who are running for the U.S. Senate and governor, respectively, at Cass Technical High School on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Speaking to an energized crowd of more than 4,000 attendees, which spilled into an overflow space, Obama invoked what he referred to as the failed promises of his successor, from high costs at the pump to an unwanted war in Iran.
“This election is our last, best chance to at least reign in some of the foolishness of this administration,” Obama, who won Michigan in 2008 and 2012, said of Trump, whom he characterized alternately during his nearly 40-minute speech as incompetent, corrupt and a grifter. “It is the circuit breaker in the system. We gotta flip that circuit breaker.”
Real leadership must show the American people concrete plans to lower costs and make health care and housing more affordable, he said.
“We can’t just be against something, we gotta be for something,” he said. “We gotta start showing what a future on the other side of this administration can look like.”
That looks like electing Benson for governor and El-Sayed for U.S. Senate, according to the 44th president.
El-Sayed — who is running to defeat Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers for the open U.S. Senate seat — is “fighting for change” and to “finish the job we started” with the Affordable Care Act, Obama said, referencing his signature health care bill.
Attacks against El-Sayed’s background won’t work, Obama said.
“Whenever a movement builds to challenge that broken system, the people who benefit from the status quo will say and do anything to stop that train from coming,” he said. “They will use lies and they will use fear, and they will use division, and they may even use your name or your faith to somehow suggest that you are dangerous and less than trustworthy, and less patriotic and less American then they are.
“We have seen this movie before. I starred in it. I’ve got a long form birth certificate to prove it. This stuff didn’t work on me, not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”
Obama gave El-Sayed a glimpse into a world he previously thought impossible for someone with his name, the Senate hopeful told the crowd. Then, El-Sayed said, he saw Obama run for president and it was the first time he saw someone that looked at all like him, with a similar background, in politics.
Trump, he said, is not the “disease” in politics, but rather the “worst symptom.”
“It’s not just about fighting big pharma. It’s about fighting for a mom on the east side, drowning in medical bills because her kids have asthma,” El-Sayed said. “It’s not just about fighting big insurance. It’s about fighting for Black moms who face four times the likelihood of dying in childbirth.”
As Democrats rally around El-Sayed, he’s still getting support from progressive stalwarts, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is perhaps the best-known progressive politician in the nation. On Thursday, Oct. 22, Sanders committed an additional $1 million to El-Sayed’s joint fundraising committee, after the New York Times reported that the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, a staunchly pro-Israel group that opposes El-Sayed, intended to provide up to $9 million for Rogers’ effort in the closing days.
Sanders was also set to rally with El-Sayed in Grand Rapids on Sunday, Oct. 25 — even as Trump stumped with Rogers in Port Huron — and was going to campaign in Alpena and Ann Arbor on Monday, Oct. 26.
Another progressive figure, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also donated $1 million to El-Sayed’s joint fundraiser a week earlier.
The next 10 days will determine the future of democracy, jobs, schools, rights and freedoms, for generations to come, Benson said.
“This election is a choice between leaders who will show up every day, as I will — as everyone you’re hearing from tonight will — and work to bring down costs, and ensure our wages are going up, and that we’re ending corruption,” Benson said.
Benson is leading Republican John James according to a poll conducted by Marist University, with 51% of likely voters backing the Detroit Democrat compared with 45% of support for the Shelby Township congressman.
Speakers Saturday evening included Lt. Gov. and Secretary of State candidate Garlin Gilchrist II, attorney general candidate Eli Savit, Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield, and other Democrats who rallied the crowd to knock on doors and get to the polls.
Music and a live marching band energized the packed crowd, who came from all over metro Detroit — from Canton and Romulus to Bloomfield Township and Southfield. A longtime former teacher, nurse and janitor were among the supporters who filled the school gym. Supporters stood before the stage and sat on bleachers waving signs to vote by Nov. 3.
Debbie Rosenman said, as a Jewish woman, El-Sayed’s values aligned with hers.
“He will make a very strong senator,” said Rosenman, 70, of Bloomfield Township. “He will be a fighter, the kind of fighter we need.”
El-Sayed’s platform is personal for her.
“My son is on the ACA,” she said, referring to the Affordable Care Act. “We’re paying a high amount of money for him to have his health care and I worry about that going up higher.”
She said she has already voted.
For those who haven’t, get out the vote efforts are well underway, ahead of the midterm election. Earlier in the day, actors Kerry Washington and Adam Brody joined a coalition of organizations to knock on doors and encourage Detroiters to vote.
Free Press staff writers Todd Spangler and Clara Hendrickson contributed to this report.
