Abdul El-Sayed and Barack Obama spoke as Democrats seek to unify following heated Senate primary

CNN

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday described a “really warm” conversation with former President Barack Obama as the party seeks to find a path forward following last week’s bruising primary.

“I like to keep private conversations private, but it was a really, really warm conversation,” El-Sayed told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “I was really grateful for his advice, and we’ve got a long road to go here, but we’re perfectly unified in the need to win Michigan, take back the Senate, and hold Donald Trump accountable.”

During the conversation — which took place just days after El-Sayed, a progressive, narrowly defeated moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, the Democratic establishment’s preferred candidate — they discussed how to bring Democrats together to retain Michigan’s critical Senate seat in November, according to representatives for El-Sayed and Obama.

It’s the major question facing El-Sayed: Whether he can build a coalition, as Obama did in his 2008 and 2012 presidential runs, to win the battleground state. While prominent Democrats have moved quickly to back El-Sayed, he may still face an uphill battle in courting Stevens voters unhappy with his primary campaign, during which he sharply criticized his rival over her support from the pro-Israel group AIPAC.

Republicans are hoping to dig into those divisions as they seek to flip the seat — GOP nominee Mike Rogers made a direct-to-camera pitch to disappointed Stevens voters on Friday.

For her part, Stevens quickly endorsed El-Sayed after his win and said she would be open to campaigning with him.

Obama, however, has not gone so far as to say he would join the former public health official on the campaign trail.

Pressed on if the popular former president would join him, El-Sayed said he hoped so.

“Obviously we’ve got a lot more to do here, but it was a really, really warm conversation, and I was really, really grateful for his advice and his mentorship,” he told Tapper.

Obama’s political brand has proved to be a durable asset in high-stakes campaigns throughout the 2026 election cycle.

While Obama did not weigh in on the hotly contested Democratic primary to take on Rogers, his name loomed over the race. Outside groups spent heavily on a barrage of television ads tying him to Stevens and highlighting El-Sayed’s past criticism of former first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative.

On the campaign trail, El-Sayed has also evoked comparisons to Obama.

During El-Sayed’s first run for elected office in 2018 as he sought to become the nation’s first Muslim governor, his Ivy League background and rhetorical style drew frequent comparisons to that of the first Black president. While El-Sayed has noted commonalities with Obama, he’s argued that the former president’s politics didn’t go far enough — something that Stevens’ campaign pointed to during the primary.

But on Sunday, El-Sayed spoke admiringly of Obama, saying that it was an honor to get his advice on the campaign going forward.

The progressive described watching Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he delivered a keynote speech in support of then-presidential nominee John Kerry.

“It’s the first time I ever saw myself reflected in politics at all,” El-Sayed said.

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