ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Thursday, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigned across the Upper Peninsula, making stops in Dickinson, Marquette, and Delta Counties.
In the morning, El-Sayed brought his “Shouldn’t Be This Hard” tour to the U.P. State Fairgrounds in Escanaba. A crowd of more than 400 people showed up to support the Democrat, who was introduced by Delta County Commissioner and State Senate candidate Kelli van Ginhoven.
“Candidates like myself and Abdul have been busting our asses for the last 16 months to flip our U.P. back to blue, and look at this,” van Ginhoven said to attendees.
Supporting El-Sayed on his tour was U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“What [El-Sayed] says is that if working people come together across geography, race, difference and fight so that we all can guarantee healthcare in America, and we all take on these monopolies that are driving up our prices and making our lives impossible,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
One of El-Sayed’s primary talking points was affordability, along with keeping money from corporations and special interest groups out of elections and politics.
“Donald Trump is not himself a disease of our politics; he is the worst symptom of the disease of our politics,” he said. “The disease is the system that allows corporations and billionaires and special interests to buy and sell politicians in ways that leave them rigging the system against us… Watch as our tax dollars get misspent to do war and genocide and apartheid against other people rather than to build schools and healthcare here.”
Healthcare was another major focus—specifically, a push for Medicare for all. A group of demonstrators outside the event believes that is not a feasible solution.
“Medicare for all simply means that we will have to dilute the Medicare or Medicaid systems that we have right now so that we will have enough for everyone,” said Michael Andrew Glass, Public Information Officer for the Delta County Republican Party. “… The only problem with that is in diluting that, not only do you dilute the number of caregivers, you dilute the quality of the care itself. The only way that their proposal works is if we have less and less and less. Anyone talking about America having the best medical care, it won’t happen anymore. We will have, perhaps, mediocre, but mediocre for everyone. That’s what they’re looking for.”
In an interview with WZMQ 19, El-Sayed responded to that concern.
“For seniors who have Medicare, they take more money out of the system than they pay in, right?” he said. “Because they’re older, they tend to be sicker. Is it smarter to have young people paying more money into the system than they pay out, who subsidize the older people? Probably, but right now, they’re all in private health insurance, so all that extra money that they put in goes into the back pocket of a CEO… You think about the Trump approach to things. He’s interested in making money for his corporate donors. For Mike Rogers, same thing. He took a million dollars from Big Pharma. Big Pharma’s not spending money to help get me elected, so who do you think I’m for? Big insurance is not spending money to get me elected; they’re spending money against me. Why? Because they’re afraid I might be bad for their gravy train, which means that I’d probably be good for everyday people.”
When asked why those who typically vote Republican should cast their votes for him on November 3, El-Sayed stated, “I don’t think there’s a red and blue. I think there are folks who are hurting. They’re paying too much for gas, paying too much for groceries. They’re worried about wars we shouldn’t be fighting, and they’re asking, ‘Who’s actually going to show up for me?’ I’m showing up. Where’s Mike Rogers?”
WZMQ 19 reached out to Mike Rogers’ campaign for a statement and to ask if he is planning to visit the Upper Peninsula before the election. We have not received a response at this time.
