Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed drew hundreds of students and residents to Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater on Wednesday, Aug. 26, for a rally centered on healthcare costs and Medicare for All.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., joined El-Sayed on stage. Hours later, the Detroit Free Press reported that El-Sayed and Republican nominee Mike Rogers agreed to their first debate on Oct. 8. WOOD-TV, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, will host the event. Political reporter Rick Albin will moderate.
El-Sayed, an Ann Arbor resident and University of Michigan alum, won the Democratic primary by just over 13,000 votes over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. He carried 61% of the vote in Washtenaw County. He faces Rogers on Nov. 3 for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters.
Healthcare message front and center
Dingell, who represents Ann Arbor in Congress, opened the rally by tying the midterm election to Republican healthcare cuts.
"We have ripped healthcare away from millions of Americans, and we have hungry children in our district, in our state, and hungry seniors because of what the Republicans have done," Dingell said. "We need to win in November, and we will reverse all of the things that they have done."
Raskin pointed to U.S. healthcare spending of $15,000 per person, which he called double what Canada or the United Kingdom spends, and cited El-Sayed's experience directing Wayne County's Department of Health, Human & Veteran Services. Both Dingell and Raskin co-sponsor Medicare for All legislation in the U.S. House.
El-Sayed framed the race as a choice between putting money in voters' pockets and letting corporations "fleece" them, and between "Medicare for all" and "Medicare for none."
Campaign distances from Piker
The rally came two days after El-Sayed released a statement distancing his campaign from left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who had suggested that some American Jews' support for Israel could invite violence against the Jewish community. El-Sayed's Monday, Aug. 24, statement said "nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople," CNN reported.
Rogers' campaign has called Piker El-Sayed's "running mate" and pressed him to fully disavow the streamer.
At a press conference after the rally, El-Sayed called Piker "a streamer in California" and said the media was overemphasizing the connection, according to the Times of Israel. Dingell told the crowd she was done answering questions about Piker, saying the streamer is not what November is about.
El-Sayed told CBS Detroit on Thursday, Aug. 27, that his campaign has "no intention to campaign" with Piker going forward.
Debate and what's next
Rogers' campaign said on its website that Rogers will "expose Abdul for the fraud he is" at the Oct. 8 debate, according to the Free Press. El-Sayed has called for five debates before Nov. 3. Rogers has not accepted an invitation to a Sept. 15 debate hosted by Fox 2 and the Michigan Debate Commission.
Lenyx Coviak, a social work student and El-Sayed campaign volunteer interviewed by the Michigan Daily at the rally, said El-Sayed's candidacy stood out for seeming motivated by public service rather than power.
The Oct. 8 debate on WOOD-TV will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two candidates vying for a seat that could help determine Senate control during the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.
