DETROIT (AP) — Campaigning in Michigan alongside Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, former Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that the midterm elections offer a potential “stopgap” halfway through Donald Trump's turbulent second presidency.
“The stakes are so high,” Harris said without mentioning the man who defeated her two years ago.
In her first of several midterm campaign trips this fall, Harris' lone event alongside El-Sayed was an hourlong roundtable on Black maternal health that focused on policy. But the political significance was evident for both figures as they grapple with their own policy differences over Israel and the Democratic Party infighting that was on display in Michigan's hotly contested Senate primary earlier this year — and in Harris’ 2024 loss here.
El-Sayed welcomed the first Black vice president to Wayne County, where she remains popular and he faces pressure to shore up his support among Black voters who backed his primary rival last month and will be critical in his campaign against Republican Mike Rogers. The two politicians sat side-by-side at Birth Detroit, a Black-led birth center, for the discussion.
“I’m here to support Dr. El-Sayed because on this subject, I know he will be a champion,” Harris said of the medical doctor and former Detroit public health chief.
For Harris, who is deciding whether to run for president again, the trip stood to reinforce her popularity among Black voters who will hold strong sway over Michigan's early presidential primary in 2028. It also marked her return to a metro area where her support for U.S. aid to Israel and its military cost her votes from Arab Americans and progressives in her 2024 presidential bid.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say, ‘Come on back,’” El-Sayed said after the roundtable. “We’re looking forward to building together what we talked about today.”
El-Sayed downplays Israel differences, touts unity
Harris and El-Sayed did not take questions together before or after their event, so they did not have to discuss their previous differences over U.S. policy in Israel.
El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of U.S. military aid to Israel, which Harris backed as President Joe Biden's vice president and then as presidential nominee. El-Sayed has called Israel’s military actions in Gaza a genocide against Palestinians. Israel rejects that position, but it aligns El-Sayed with many voters in Michigan’s large Arab American community that included so many Harris critics two years ago.
Earlier Tuesday, before meeting Harris, El-Sayed framed her visit as a deliberate show of party unity and downplayed any disagreements.
“We're building an electoral coalition here,” El-Sayed said, emphasizing the two Democrats' shared focus on the economy.
The 2024 election “ended where it did because we could not find the places of agreement to be able to bring people together or move in the direction that we need to move,” El-Sayed added.
El-Sayed said Harris, who was also going to attend an event hosted by the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, is a critical advocate in helping him close ranks against Rogers.
“Her presence here speaking to communities that were really empowered by her voice throughout her political career, I think will help us to continue to bring our coalition together,” El-Sayed said.
El-Sayed vs. Rogers is a critical contest for Senate control
The Democrat's matchup against Rogers, a former congressman, will help determine control of the Senate for the final two years of Trump's presidency. If Democrats hold the seat, which was opened by Sen. Gary Peters' announced retirement, they'd still need to win at least four more currently held by Republicans to flip the chamber. A Rogers victory would narrow Democrats' path to a majority.
Rogers’ campaign framed Harris’ visit as a sign of weakness for both Democrats.
“Abdul is so desperate that he’s parachuting Kamala Harris into Michigan to save his flailing campaign,” said Alyssa Brouillet, Rogers’ spokesperson.
Rogers has been campaigning in Detroit, a predominantly Black city where his campaign is optimistic he can pick up support from voters hesitant to support El-Sayed.
Black voters could prove especially critical as El-Sayed also faces pressure among white Jewish voters who typically back Democrats.
“Jews in Michigan are currently scared” by their Senate options, said Barry Goodman, a Democratic National Committee member and major Michigan fundraiser in the party. Goodman backed Stevens in the primary.
The race is also seen as another referendum on progressives' viability in battleground races. El-Sayed is running to the left of the Democratic Party establishment, including advocating for universal healthcare.
Goodman described himself and many other Jewish Democrats as “holding our noses and voting for Abdul” because they “believe in the Democratic ticket and they believe that one man can help win the Senate but can’t destroy the Senate.” Other moderates, Goodman said, are still deciding whether to back Rogers or sit out the Senate race.
El-Sayed has attempted to soften his approach on Israel and Gaza. He has apologized for some past controversial comments and said he is committed to Jewish safety.
Michigan will also be a key state for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary
Harris' trip comes as questions swirl about whether she will run for president again. Under Democrats' recently revised nominating calendar, Michigan now will hold the fifth presidential preference primary in 2028.
Even if she does not address or recalibrate her Israel stance while in Michigan, campaigning with El-Sayed is notable given her past tensions with Democrats' left flank.
“She probably figures she won't lose her establishment folks, so maybe she makes gains to her left,” Goodman said.
Harris has said she’s in no rush to announce whether she will run again. But ahead of Election Day this November, she also has campaign stops planned in Nevada and Georgia, two other important states on the political map.
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GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta.
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