Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Michigan Tuesday (September 22) alongside Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, urging Democrats to put aside their differences and support his bid for the Senate.
Harris and El-Sayed appeared together at a roundtable focused on Black maternal health, where they praised each other and discussed health care policy. Harris said she was supporting El-Sayed because she believes he would be a strong advocate for Michigan.
“His will be a voice, Abdul’s, that is a voice representing the people of this state, and it will be a national voice,” Harris said, according to The New York Times. “Let’s please elect him to the United States Senate.”
In a video shared from the campaign stop, Harris made another direct appeal for El-Sayed, saying, “We’ve got to do everything we can to make sure he wins.”
She said El-Sayed “stands for what is right about what we need to do to move our country forward” before criticizing what she described as “the corruption, the incompetence, and the callous nature” coming from the White House.
El-Sayed did not attend the NAACP event where Harris later spoke in support of his campaign. At the forum, Harris urged Democrats not to let primary divisions keep them from participating in the general election, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s OK to not be in love with a candidate,” Harris said. “It’s OK to vote and ask everybody else to vote because this choice is better than that one.”
Harris also described the midterm elections as a potential “stopgap” halfway through President Donald Trump’s second term.
El-Sayed won the Democratic primary in August over former Rep. Haley Stevens and now faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers. His campaign has focused on building a coalition across the Democratic Party after a contentious primary.
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