“FOCUS ON MICHIGAN, NOT THE DRAMA!” Abdul El-Sayed Fires Back Over Haley Stevens' GOP Endorsement

I have a sense that you all are here today because of the decisions of somebody who's not here. Am I right about that? Well, I'm just going to tell you, this is a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from their government. I'm a lot more focused on the 9,999,998. They're not the ones you guys are talking about. Okay. They get too much gas. Well, I just want to say how grateful I am to be standing here next to two folks who made history and are actively building the future that I want to hand off to my kids and my grandkids. Senator also Brooks, first black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate in Maryland, third black woman to be elected to the United States Senate in its history. And then, of course, Congressman Clyburn, somebody who has been the conscience of the House fighting for. more equal America for a very long time and then I'm standing also with my brothers and sisters in the faith community, folks who understand what it's like to have to claw for resources into communities that have been left behind for a very long time. I just want to set the stage for what this race is actually about. I launched this campaign back in April of 2025 in the aftermath of the disastrous decision by the Trump administration to freeze federal funds and I've been serving in these communities for more than a decade as Detroit's Health Director, as Wayne County's Director of Health, Human and Veteran Services, working with alongside communities to take on problems like the fact that kids couldn't get glasses when they needed them, that our kids' schools were underfunded, that we had smokestacks that were pushing out putrid air into the lungs of our babies, that black moms and babies die too early, We watch as our communities drown in medical debt. Those are the issues that I've been working alongside folks in this community to solve for a very, very long time. And when they froze federal funds, to me, that was the moment where I realized that the fight for the public's health, the public's well-being needed to go to the United States Senate. It was the same day that our current U.S. Senator Gary Peters announced that he was retiring and there was going to be an open U.S. Senate seat. It was a crowded primary, right, and there were a lot of issues, but one of the most important issues was simply the fact that I think we should spend our tax dollars here, that I want our money spent here to build infrastructure here and build schools here and build opportunity here and build healthcare here and childcare here, rather than sent abroad to do the worst things, the most heinous things to other people. And you see it right now in a form of a war we shouldn't be fighting that we're all paying for in our tax dollars, that we're all paying for in the price of gas, we're paying for in the price of groceries. We have a system of government that too often is more interested in sending our money to fight wars abroad rather than to do good things here at home, to subsidize foreign militaries rather than to subsidize domestic schools. And therein lies a big foundational difference. And look, we won that primary despite a record amount of outside spending in that race against us. $70 million got outspent 11 to 1. Never has there been more money spent against a single candidate running in any primary race in American history. But we were able to build a movement of by and for the people, against the corporate money that had flooded in, against the special interest money. And we were able to win that race. Now, three months ago, right, we had all realized that as a party, the thing that we were standing up against was the thing that kicked off my campaign in the first place. A Trump administration that could care less about funding the things that matter here. The Trump administration that has taken us to this war in Iran he doesn't know how to get us out of, that's raising the price of gas and groceries. Trump administration that's making tariff war on Canada. Trump administration that passed the big ugly bill. The single biggest transfer of money from the poor in this country to the rich in this country in American history. We were all united in the responsibility, the goal to take that on. Here's the thing about it. My focus has never wavered. I have been clear about what our responsibilities are. So rather than focus on a distraction about who said what to whom, where they went, I've been consistent. I want to get money out of politics. I want to put money back in pockets. I want Medicare for all. I want to take on the heinous price of gas, the ridiculous price of groceries, the fact that people in the richest, most powerful country in the world cannot see a doctor, the notion that we should continue to breathe unclean air or unclean water. That has been the focus of this campaign since April of 2025 when we kicked it off. It's what we said in rooms across the state, 700 public events, 120 different cities now. It's what I've said in every interview with probably every single one of you, right? It's what I said on TV. It's what I said while I was trying to fall asleep at night. It is the goal of this campaign, and Michiganders understand that we don't want to keep paying too much for gas. We don't want to keep paying too much for groceries. We don't want to watch our tax dollars get spent somewhere else on a war we shouldn't be fighting. We want our tax dollars spent here on schools here. That's what Michiganders are focused on. So I have a sense that you all are here today because of the decisions of somebody who's not here right now. Am I right about that? I'm just going to tell you, this is a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from the government. I'm a lot more focused. On the 9,999,998 that are not the ones you guys are talking about, okay? They pay too much in gas. They pay too much in groceries. They're worried about the quality of their kids' schools. They're worried about the quality of the air and the water that they drink. That's what we should be focused on. So I'm going to ask when we take questions that you keep your questions focused on the issues that Michiganders really care about. Now, I might not drive clicks for you. I get it. I understand your business, right? But they're the issues that Michiganders are paying attention to. And I'm not in the business of driving clicks for you. I'm in the business of trying to solve problems for the people of my state. So if you want to ask me questions about the issues that the people of my state are facing, I am happy to answer them. If you want to ask me questions about some intrigue and about two folks who aren't here right now, I'm going to be less interested in asking. I'm just putting it out there. Thank you. All right, we have time for a couple quick questions. We'll go right here in the front, or whatever you can hear. So I heard, Don, Don, today is the Sunday before Election Day. You've got to be lying. Historically, this is the day where we take souls to the polls. Today is the last day of early voting in Michigan, and I'm here with some of the most important faith leaders in our state to get souls out to the polls. So it's important to me because democracy is important to me, because making sure every vote is... heard is important to me because they've been attacking voting rights and voting rights are important to me because I want folks to understand, right, that we are united in the goal of getting money out of politics, putting money in your pocket, passing Medicare for all. But the only way we do that is because people show up to be a part of their civic process. And that means showing up to vote today or on Tuesday. We have time for one more question. One more question. Do you believe that Haley Stevens has betrayed the Republican Party? She didn't hear what I just said. Do you believe that he... Has she betrayed the Republican Party? Has she betrayed the Democratic Party? I don't know what that party is anymore. I don't know. No, has she betrayed the Democratic Party? At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. See what I'm saying? I think about the, like I said, the 9,999,998 people who are not those two. Because you know what? I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all. And so, look, if you're somebody who believes that we ought to have more rights, not less, then I would think you would support me in this race. If you are somebody who believes that... We should stand up to hate, and you have watched this last campaign. I think we probably would not want to support Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. If you're somebody who believes that we need more health care, not less, then you probably don't want to vote for the guy who voted to raise prescription drug prices or keep them high 19 times and takes money from big pharma and big insurance. If you're somebody who believes that we need funding for infrastructure, you probably don't want to support the guy. Who is more interested in sending your money or passing tax cuts for billionaires than funding infrastructure. If you're somebody who believes in public education, you probably do not want to support the guy who architected the initial legislation in 1999 that ended up stripping local control from Detroit public schools and the local community. If you're somebody who believes that you should have a right to a union, you probably don't want to support the guy who busts unions. So I'm just saying that the principles that we believe in as Democrats are really quite clear. I stand for all of them. None of this matters. You know what matters? There's a family. You can go like 15 minutes that way or 15 minutes that way or 15 minutes that way. And there are families who are preparing to send their kids to schools tomorrow that look like they did 50 years ago. They're worried about what they're going to feed their kids for lunch. They're worried that if one of their kids gets sick, they're not going to be able to pay the bills. Those are the things that matter. I would hope, I would hope, honestly, like you guys, we have a democracy, right? Democracy is founded on a couple of things. The ability to vote. Yes, and they're trying to take it away. The other one is freedom of assembly and the third is freedom of the press. But y'all please, I would hope that you all want to ask questions that are relevant to that family. They're the ones who matter. The rest of this, just a distraction. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.