LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris plans to campaign with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan next week in the party’s latest push to unify voters in a key battleground state that will help determine control of the Senate.
Harris and El-Sayed have spoken multiple times since she endorsed the progressive Democrat after his primary victory, but this is the first time they’ll appear publicly together.
Harris and El-Sayed will attend a roundtable focused on Black maternal health on Tuesday, according to his campaign spokesperson. El-Sayed is a doctor and the former head of health departments in Detroit and Wayne County.
“Vice President Harris looks forward to returning to Michigan to help turn out the vote in this critical state,” Eduardo Negrón, Harris’ spokesperson, said in a statement. “It is critical we flip the Senate so we can bring down prices and stand up to Donald Trump’s corruption.”
El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative, in November. Republicans have repeatedly attacked El-Sayed, portraying him as the kind of “radical” liberal they say has taken over the Democratic Party.
The seat, currently held by Democrat Gary Peters, is among the must-wins for Democrats as they try to achieve control of the Senate. The party needs to flip four GOP-held seats to take a majority, if Democrats keep the Michigan seat. If Rogers were to flip Michigan to Republicans, the Democrats’ challenge would be even greater.
Some other top-ranking Democrats have thrown their weight behind El-Sayed after a bitter primary against Rep. Haley Stevens that highlighted divisions within their party, notably on U.S. support for Israel. In August, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged a crowd of hundreds in Detroit to unify behind Democratic candidates in the midterms.
Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential race to Trump, is seen as a possible 2028 candidate. Michigan will be the fifth state to vote in the Democratic presidential primary.
While in Michigan, Harris will also meet with local elected officials and the Rev. Wendell Anthony, the president of the NAACP’s Detroit branch, according to her spokesperson.
GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.