Two of the most influential leaders of America’s progressive movement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, are headed to Michigan to stump for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, with a Saturday, July 18, rally in Detroit and events in Lansing and Grand Rapids on Sunday, July 19.
It will mark the first time that Ocasio-Cortez − or AOC − will be in Michigan this election cycle for El-Sayed, a former Wayne County and Detroit health director who is running against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham for the Democratic nomination to Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.
El-Sayed, of Ann Arbor, has been leading polling averages for the Aug. 4 primary to determine who faces Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the fall election. But with one candidate, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak, dropping out of the Democratic nomination race and the more-centrist Democratic establishment largely coalescing around Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, El-Sayed will need supporters to turn out in droves to win.
That’s where Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez could come in. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and won Michigan’s presidential primary in 2016, is a reliable draw for progressive voters; Ocasio-Cortez, who joined Congress in 2019 just as Stevens did, has been a force in progressive politics since her first election and a charter member of a group of Democratic women U.S. House members elected that year that includes U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.
Tlaib will also appear at the rally in Detroit on July 18 with Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and El-Sayed along with state Rep. Donavan McKinney of Detroit who is challenging U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, in the Aug. primary for Thanedar’s seat. At the Lansing event on July 19, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and El-Sayed will also appear with activist William Lawrence, who is running for the Democratic nomination in mid-Michigan’s 7th Congressional District and the chance to face U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, in the fall election.
The Detroit rally will be held at 5 p.m. at the Detroit Opera House, with doors opening at 2:30 p.m. on July 18. Tickets are not required for any of the events, but those attending the Detroit rally are asked to RSVP to https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/rsvp-people-v-powerful-Detroit/.
The Lansing rally will be at the Lansing Convention Center, with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. and the event set to begin at noon July 19th. Attendees are asked to RSVP to https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/rsvp-people-v-powerful-Lansing/. The Grand Rapids rally is at 7 p.m. on July 19 at the DeVos Performance Hall, with doors opening at 4:40 p.m. Attendees to that event are asked to RSVP to https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/rsvp-people-v-powerful-Grand-Rapids/.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bernie Sanders, AOC to stump for El-Sayed in Michigan this month
Reporting by Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
