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<p><span style="font-weight:400">Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said during a recent interview that some black Detroiters’ experiences with “somebody who looks like me” involve being “talked at from behind bulletproof glass,” catcalled, and sold single cigarettes at gas stations and stores. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">During an <a href="https://www.theroot.com/exclusive-in-the-first-episode-of-whats-popular-abdul-2000131284" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with “The Root” publisher Ashley Allison, El-Sayed said some black Detroiters’ “experience with somebody who looks like me is not a good one.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“You go into a gas station. You go to a party store. You’re being talked at from behind bulletproof glass,” El-Sayed said. “If you’re a woman, you’re being catcalled. If you’re a kid, you’re being sold a loosie out back. Being denied a bathroom.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“I’ve always tried to be on the right side of that,” he continued. “But I also understand that, like, if that’s your experience with somebody whose name is like mine, that leaves a terrible taste in your mouth.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The remarks were part of a broader conversation about El-Sayed’s efforts to connect his political outlook with the legacy of the civil rights movement. They come as he works to secure black support against Republican Mike Rogers in a race that could determine control of the Senate.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) by less than a percentage point in the August Democratic primary. </span><span style="font-weight:400">RealClearPollings’ </span><a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/elections/senate/2026/michigan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">average of polls</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> conducted from late September through mid-October showed El-Sayed leading Rogers by under three points, a margin that leaves little room for a drop in Democratic turnout.</span></p>
<p>Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of Detroit’s Historic King Solomon Baptist Church, warned<span style="font-weight:400"> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/black-voters-michigan-senate-race-el-sayed-rogers" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">CNN</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> about the risks of weak turnout. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“If even a sliver of people don’t turn out, you run into a huge challenge in trying to get your candidate over that line,” Williams said.</span></p>
<p>Some black voters have questioned El-Sayed’s outreach.<span style="font-weight:400"> </span><span style="font-weight:400">In a discussion reported by </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-committed-democrats-say-theyre-a-hard-no-on-abdul-el-sayed" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">The Daily Wire</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">, several black voters expressed frustration with El-Sayed’s outreach, with one saying Democrats should not assume black voters will support a candidate simply because of their party affiliation. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“I think he’s taking advantage that we, as black people, are Democratic and he thinks we’re going to vote for him anyway,” she said. “And I’m like no sir.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Another said El-Sayed needed to explain how he would represent the community directly: “If you’re going to Congress to represent me, I need you to talk about what’s going on in this community.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Rogers, a former Republican congressman, has courted voters in</span> Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac, and opened a campaign office on Detroit’s Livernois Avenue.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Some black Republicans have praised Rogers’ outreach. Naura Evans, a teacher and mother of two who appears in a Rogers campaign advertisement, said she believes Democrats have taken black voters for granted and that Republicans deserve a hearing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“It’s very important that we elect the right people,” Evans said. “As blacks in our community, we show that our vote matters. We’re not just giving the vote away.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">El-Sayed has mocked Rogers’ efforts, describing the Republican’s Detroit office opening as a “cute little office” where Rogers brought suburban supporters to applaud him. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">But </span><span style="font-weight:400">Charity Dean, a Detroit coffee shop owner and president of the Michigan Black Business Alliance who supports El-Sayed, cautioned against dismissing Rogers’ outreach.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“Everything should be taken seriously,” Dean said. “This is not a year where we take anything for granted.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">A clip from the interview </span><a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/2112557902091444377" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight:400">showing El-Sayed eating fried chicke</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"><a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/2112557902091444377" target="_blank" rel="noopener">n</a> with a fork and knife also drew mockery online. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to campaign with El-Sayed in Detroit on October 24, joining other prominent Democrats who have rallied behind the nominee as he attempts to unite the party after a divisive primary.</span></p>
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<br /><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-assures-black-voters-hes-not-like-the-other-arabs">Source link </a></p>
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