Democrat Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed sounds like he's getting desperate in the final days of the Senate race.
He has had problems with both black and Jewish voters who aren't buying what he is selling. He's also had Democrats fleeing him for his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.
As we reported, his Democrat primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11)'s fiancé, Jason Turkish, is one of those Democrats who has flipped to Rogers. When Stevens was asked about this on CNN, she then proceeded to essentially body El-Sayed. While she said she wanted him to win, she outlined why she thought a lot of people were still undecided — "hurt" and "confused." She called on him to denounce two of the ads — one that included Tucker Carlson that he put out and another that was not put out by him that blamed Israel for the price of groceries in this country.
Apparently, pulling in Barack Obama hasn't done it for him. Who would have guessed that reminding people how Obama failed on healthcare and claiming Iran was in a stronger position now after we destroyed their military wouldn't be a good argument? Who would have thought insulting the Cheesecake Factory wouldn't be a winning message?
Now there are reports that Stevens will be campaigning with El-Sayed on Sunday.
The two will be joined by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the country's most prominent Black politicians, at a get-out-the-vote event at a Detroit church, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The event was first reported by The Associated Press.
The joint appearance — their first since a Democratic unity breakfast days after the Aug. 4 primary — follows weeks of Democrats struggling to unite behind El-Sayed following his razor-thin victory over Stevens. She received significant support from the Jewish and Black communities, leading to concerns about turnout in the general election.
Stevens confirmed to The New York Times in a text message on Thursday that she was asked to participate in a “souls to the polls” event with El-Sayed and Clyburn.
That indicates how desperate El-Sayed is and how he knows he needs the aid of Stevens and Clyburn. It also exposes his weakness that he has to reach to South Carolina to get support from Clyburn because black voters in Michigan are rightfully leery of him. He's also hoping Stevens being with him will help because she did better with black voters in the primary than he did.
But given the short time left, it may be too late in the game to try to change people's minds or to alleviate their concerns. Stevens isn't even changing her fiancé's mind on this. I wonder if El-Sayed will denounce the ads at the event, in the hope that it will convince people. If he doesn't, then Stevens looks pretty weak appearing with him after what she said. Of course, even if he did, he can't wiggle out of all the other problematic positions he's taken and associations he's had. But look for them to try to sell that "unity" at the event in a final push.
Unfortunately, what it really shows is that the Democrats, including Stevens, will embrace anything to win back power.