“We’re clear about the choice in this election,” Barack Obama told a Detroit crowd on Saturday while campaigning with Abdul El-Sayed, the party’s Senate nominee. The event took place as early voting was underway in Detroit. The former president also criticized President Donald Trump, including over the White House renovation.
According to NBC News, the Senate contest with Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, may hinge on the Black vote in Detroit, where about 75% of residents are Black. Polls have forecast a close race. Obama was joined by Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, and other Democratic candidates, with Election Day under two weeks away. He had held an earlier rally in Cleveland.
In remarks published afterward, Obama noted that Trump is “very focused on home renovation” and added, “He should be on HGTV.” Obama criticized Trump and Republicans in Congress over what he called “broken promises” from their 2024 campaigns. He also faulted the president over the Iran war and tariffs, which he described as having an outsized impact on Michigan. Obama further contrasted El-Sayed with Rogers, stating that El-Sayed had not spent months “cheerleading the Iran war.”
Obama cites Reflecting Pool project
On the same theme, Obama recalled the “drain the swamp” pledge. He remarked that the only thing drained was the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool, because “some no-bid contract got it all messed up.” The pool was drained again in July, and federal procurement records showed no-bid contracts for the project, according to a July timeline. President Trump has blamed vandals for damage to the pool’s lining.
Obama called El-Sayed “as Michigan as it gets,” citing his Michigan upbringing and his parents’ work in the auto industry. El-Sayed has previously criticized Obama’s record, including by describing the Affordable Care Act as incremental. Obama addressed that criticism, explaining that El-Sayed shares his values on health care, living wages and affordable housing.
El-Sayed spoke before Obama and criticized Rogers for planning to appear with Trump. “Trump got us into a war we’ve got no business fighting,” he argued. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., described the real divide as not progressive versus moderate but “between team fight and team flight.”
The outlet reported that El-Sayed underperformed in Detroit in the Democratic primary compared with Rep. Haley Stevens. It cited a YouGov survey in which El-Sayed won 84% of Black voters to Rogers’ 11%, and a late-September Fox News poll that gave Rogers 22% among Black voters. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist described Obama as occupying “a singular place in our consciousness as Black Americans” and added that the rally could help bring the party together.
Detroit City Council member Mary Waters, a Stevens supporter in the primary, explained that she has not yet picked a candidate but spoke warmly of Rogers. Waters suggested that wariness toward El-Sayed could stem from strained relations between Black and Arab American residents of the city. She also expressed doubt that Obama fully understands the city’s racial and class divides, noting that he does not live there.
Republicans criticized the rally and portrayed El-Sayed as an extremist, the outlet reported. Kollin Crompton, communications director for the Republican Governors Association, responded in a statement that Democrats “will always put politics over people.”
The appearance followed another recent public statement from the former president, in which Obama defended Ilhan Omar.
Published: Oct 26, 2026 02:13 pm