El-Sayed, Warren court McMorrow supporters at Ferndale rally

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) endorsed El-Sayed last week after initially backing the campaign of McMorrow.

Warren said in an interview with the Michigan Advance that El-Sayed and McMorrow both ran without taking corporate PAC money, which she says has “swamped” the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township).

“It’s corporate money hiding under a veil of neutrality,” Warren said. “Not a single one of these ads really tells us what the underlying agenda is all about: Stop Abdul from lowering the cost of drugs, stop Abdul from putting some curbs on crypto, stop Abdul from pushing back against arming Israel.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) joined Warren and El-Sayed for a rally Saturday in Ferndale.

Van Hollen, a former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair, told reporters after the event that he views El-Sayed as the more electable candidate.

“How is it that somebody who needs $60 million just to convince voters in the primary is going to somehow be the stronger candidate in the general election,” Van Hollen said. “It just doesn’t compute.”

Peters, another former DSCC chair, has endorsed Stevens, saying she “will be ready on day one to fight for Michigan” and calling her a “workhorse.”

Whitmer said Stevens would do “whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan.”

But El-Sayed said part of getting things done is “being able to communicate big ideas.”

“That’s what the fight is,” El-Sayed said. “They will discount speeches as, ‘Ah, look, you’re just one for speeches, they’re getting stuff done.’ But how do we get stuff done in politics if it’s not persuading people about what we can have and fight for, especially against the corrupting power of $60 million in this race?”

El-Sayed said during the rally that he was outspent by both Whitmer and U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar during his 2018 campaign for governor but still earned 340,000 votes.

“We were two-to-one more efficient than the governor, three-to-one more efficient than a guy who’s currently in Congress,” El-Sayed said.

El-Sayed said outside spending in the U.S. Senate race, much of which comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is a “$30 million down payment on the vote to send $3 billion somewhere else.”

Referring to outside donors, El-Sayed added, “They don’t give it to you because they think you’re nice. There is a pro quo at the end of the quid.”

El-Sayed at one point looked to the row of broadcast news cameras and addressed AIPAC directly.

“I know you’re watching,” El-Sayed said. “You ought to burn your damn money.”

He said tax dollars should be spent in the U.S., not to support “a foreign government that’s done genocide and apartheid, and now has taken us to a war for the goal of annexing southern Lebanon.”

El-Sayed was referencing Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza, which have been labeled as a genocide by both Amnesty International and a United Nations independent commission. Israeli officials have also called for annexing portions of Lebanon.

“We’ve got potholes that need to be filled here in Michigan,” El-Sayed said, referencing Whitmer’s central campaign promise without naming her. “Eight years later, still need to be filled here in Michigan.”

Oak Park resident Renee Thornton attended the rally. Thornton said she, like Warren, supported McMorrow before the Democrat from Royal Oak suspended her campaign. Now, Thornton said she plans to vote for El-Sayed in the Aug. 4 primary.

Nan Shilts also attended Saturday’s rally as a former McMorrow supporter.

She said the endorsements of Warren, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders are helping to sway her toward El-Sayed because her granddaughters support the national progressives.

“They’re the future, so if that’s what they want, I’ll go with that,” Shilts said.

Shilts said while Whitmer endorsing Stevens could be a blow, her political influence is waning.

“I don’t think anybody’s paying attention to Governor Whitmer anymore,” Shilts said. “I like Governor Whitmer a great deal, but I think she’s become irrelevant.”

Her husband, John Shilts, said “a lot of Democrats think Gretchen turned her back on Michigan Democrats.”

“I don’t think she’s a Democrat anymore,” he said. “Gretchen Whitmer is Gretchen Whitmer. She’s running for herself.”

But Shilts said there’s no need for McMorrow to endorse after suspending her own campaign, adding that if McMorrow endorsed Stevens, he would wonder who got to her.

Warren, who some progressives have criticized for not endorsing Sanders for president in 2020 after dropping out, said she would “leave her the space to make her own decision.”

“It’s tough, and the dynamics are very different from one race to another,” Warren said.

El-Sayed said he would welcome McMorrow’s support but understands she has a lot to think about.

“You know, I’ve been in that position before where I ran a big campaign and it didn’t work out the way I wanted, and there’s a lot to figure out on the back end,” El-Sayed said. “That’s for her and her family to figure out together.”

Warren said El-Sayed is building a grassroots campaign where any one endorsement isn’t as important as it might be in a top-down approach.

“There are two issues in this campaign. One is cost, and one is corruption,” Warren said. “And the way you fight that fight and mean it is from the grassroots up.”