US Senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed ended his tour through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula tonight with a packed rally inside Marquette’s Vandament arena, where more than a thousand Michiganders showed up to hear him speak.
Marquette is the bluest part of the Upper Peninsula, home to Northern Michigan University, and voters more likely to support Democrats.
New York Rep. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the stage first, delivering a pointed attack against Republican US Senate nominee Mike Rogers, accusing him of doing little for the interests of people in this area while he was in Congress.
“Mike Rogers has already spent 14 years in Congress 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,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ocasio-Cortez, with a chance to test her own political message in a battleground state, focused her speech on access to reproductive care, grocery prices, access to healthcare and the high cost of living.
Ocasio-Cortez is expected to head south to Pontiac, Dearborn and Detroit on Friday, where she’ll campaign for El-Sayed alongside Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Debbie Dingel.
El-Sayed walked out on stage to the tune of Tupac’s “changes” delivering his stump speech to a roaring crowd.
“It shouldn’t be this hard to see a doctor, it shouldn’t be this hard to pay taxes and know that that money is going to be spent on you and your kids rather than dropping a bomb on somebody else and their kids,” El-Sayed said.
The candidate will continue his campaign through Michigan tomorrow, staying in the Upper Peninsula for a stop in Sault St. Marie for a rally at Lake Superior State University.