Former President Barack Obama, right, has endorsed Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed in the state’s U.S. Senate race. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Angela Weiss – AFP / Getty Images)
By Randy DeSoto October 12, 2026 at 3:47pm
Former President Barack Obama released an endorsement video for Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, saying he represents what America is all about.
The video comes ahead of a planned Detroit rally that Obama will headline on Oct. 24 in support of El-Sayed’s and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson. The current Michigan secretary of state is running against GOP U.S. Rep. John James, USA Today reported.
Obama began his endorsement video of El-Sayed, “250 years ago, America was founded on a simple idea: This country belongs to all of us, not just the wealthy, not just the well-connected, everyone.”
“Today, that idea is under attack, and Michigan is where we fight back. That’s why I’m asking you to support Abdul El-Sayed for the United States Senate,” he continued.
Obama cited El-Sayed’s support for expanding the federal government’s power and role over health care, describing it as a “human right.” El-Sayed backs Medicare for All, which fact-checkers note will mean raising taxes, approximately $3 trillion per year over the next decade, on average.
For perspective, the entire federal budget for fiscal year 2026 was $7.4 trillion.
Obama also cited El-Sayed’s opposition to endless wars as a reason he supports him.
How concerned are you about the dramatic turn toward Socialism the Democratic Party has taken?
During an NBC “Meet the Press” interview over the weekend, El-Sayed pointed to Obama’s election as president in 2008 sparking in him a belief that he could run for office one day.
“I am so grateful to have been a young man in my 20s with Barack Hussein Obama as president. I would never have seen, you know, myself running for office,” he said.
El-Sayed recounted that as a young man in 2007, he had met former President Bill Clinton, who told him that he had a gift for public speaking and should consider running for office in the future.
El-Sayed said that at that time he did not think someone with his name, Abdul Mohamed El-Sayed, could win.
“But then the next year I watched Barack Obama run for and win the presidency. Fundamentally changed what I thought was possible in American politics,” he said.
Abdul El Sayed unwittingly makes the case that voters shouldn’t blame Trump for Biden’s messes that he inherited, and that Obama has a Muslim background:
“Think about just think about the circumstances in which he came into office, an economy that was fundamentally failed on the brink of crisis? We are certainly better off than we would have been had there been another president.
But we also understand that that was a really difficult period in our country. That financial crisis was really, really tough.
There were also circumstances as a function of the circumstances. He was handed things that he tried to take on and improve.
That’s not a fault of his. That is just circumstance. ““People like me with names like mine can’t [run for office]. And then the next year, I watched Barack Obama run for and win the presidency fundamentally changed what I thought was possible in American politics.”
‘People like me’
I was faithfully told to this day by the mainstream media Barack HUSSEIN Obama is a Christian.— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) October 11, 2026
“Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker pointed out that El-Sayed wrote some harsh things about Obama in the past. For example, El-Sayed asserted that Obama “perpetuated war” and “violated civil liberties,” and he added at the time that “the list of his failures goes on.”
“In 2020, you said, ‘We are not better off than we were before him,’” Welker noted. “Do you still feel that way today?” she asked.
“I know that he worked really hard [under difficult] circumstances. And in some ways the country was definitely better. When you look at our health care system: so much better after President Obama than before.”
El-Sayed also pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s nuclear program and making peace with Cuba as two other examples of Obama’s leadership accomplishments.
“We look back now, and we say, ‘Man, what we would give to have President Obama be president, versus the individual we have in the White House right now,’” he said.
El-Sayed wrote off past criticism of Obama overall, telling Welker, “You grow up, you start to appreciate just how hard change is, and how important it is to pick up and push.”
El-Sayed is in a tight race with Republican candidate Mike Rogers, with the most recent polling showing the two separated by 1 to 2 percentage points.
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Randy DeSoto has written more than 4,000 articles for The Western Journal since he began with the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book “We Hold These Truths” and screenwriter of the political documentary “I Want Your Money.”
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean’s list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith
