Abdul El-Sayed, AOC, Anna Aho Rink, Ranjeev Puri stage rally
Abdul El-Sayed is seen addressing a political rally at Northern Michigan University. (Courtesy photo)
U.S Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke at the political rally Thursday at Northern Michigan University. (Courtesy photo)
Abdul El-Sayed is seen addressing a political rally at Northern Michigan University. (Courtesy photo)
U.S Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke at the political rally Thursday at Northern Michigan University. (Courtesy photo)
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MARQUETTE -- On Thursday night, Michigan Senatorial candidate Dr. was joined by U.S Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, state congressional candidate Anna Aho Rink and Michigan House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri at a packed rally at Northern Michigan University's Vandament Arena attended by well over a thousand people.
The stop in Marquette was part of a larger bus tour of the Upper Peninsula by El-Sayed and democratic supporters, including other stops in Escanaba, Iron Mountain and Sault Ste. Marie. At the Marquette stop, a line had formed by 3:30 p.m., an hour and a half before the doors to the event were set to open and three hours before its first speaker.
People wrapped around NMU's Physical Education Instructional facility, standing for hours in the rain.
With 19 days left until the November election, El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez, Aho Rink and Puri encouraged the assembled crowd to vote, speak to their friends and family about voting and volunteer in campaign canvassing efforts.
"Action is what wins elections," said Aho Rink. "Get ready to rally your friends, your families, your neighbors."
Aho Rink, Ocasio-Cortez and El-Sayed were met with standing ovations as they took the stage.
"Something isn't right right now," said Ocasio-Cortez. "Grocery bills keep climbing, rent and mortgages keep rising and people are working harder than ever, only to fall further and further behind. You don't need a medical degree to recognize the symptoms of a broken economy."
Ocasio-Cortez also spoke directly about Mike Rogers, El-Sayed's Republican opponent, saying that "Mike Rogers, we must remember, has already spent 14 years in Congress. That's 14 years with a vote, 14 years with the power to do something and what his record actually shows is 14 years of saying one thing to Michiganders and turning around and doing another thing in Washington."
El-Sayed, who elicited an even greater reaction from the crowd upon taking the stage, focused his remarks around the bus tour's motto: "It Shouldn't Be This Hard."
"(It) shouldn't be this hard to fill up your tank," said El-Sayed. "Shouldn't be this hard to afford a home. Shouldn't be this hard to see a doctor. Shouldn't be this hard to pay taxes and know that that money's gonna be spent on you and your kids, rather than dropping a bomb on somebody else and their kids."
El-Sayed also spoke about his track record as public health director in Detroit, which included providing 16,000 pairs of free glasses to children, forcing a petroleum refinery to invest their own money in reducing emissions and pollution, testing area schools' water for lead and starting the process to remove it and erasing $100 million in families' medical debt.
"When we kicked off the campaign, we wanted to do three things," said El-Sayed, beginning a call and response with the audience. "We want money out of politics. We want money in your pocket. And we want Medicare for all."
El-Sayed has positioned himself as an anti-establishment candidate and his campaign has been financed without corporate donations. In the primary election, that meant getting outspent 11-to-1 by opponent Haley Stevens, whose campaign broke records for money spent against a single candidate in a primary election. Stevens has since endorsed El-Sayed.
The race between El-Sayed and Rogers has also broken records, making it the most expensive Michigan senate race ever.
El-Sayed, who received criticism earlier in the day from both Rogers and Vice President J.D. Vance for being "ungrateful" for his country and "hating" America, addressed these statements, responding that, "Nobody understands how deep and profound the gift of this country is like a kid who was born here but for the accident of history that allowed that to happen."
Often, El-Sayed's remarks were drowned out by the noise of the crowd, as people stood up and cheered at various points during his speech.
"They want you to fear my name," said El-Sayed, who was recently mocked by President Trump, who called him "Mohammed El-Sayed."
"They want you to fear my faith. But I know that there is a lot of fear right now and that is the fear that people hold deep in their hearts when they think about just how hard it is to survive ... That is a fear and an anxiety inflicted on all of us by the people in power right now.
"My name and my faith are not nearly as scary as the fact that they're fighting a war they don't need to fight that's raising our gas prices and our grocery prices. My name and my faith are not nearly as scary as not knowing how you're going to pay for your medical care."
Mail-in ballots have already been sent, and early in-person voting begins Oct. 24. Election day is Nov. 3.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.