(AFP) – Abdul El-Sayed, the doctor seeking a must-win US Senate seat for the Democrats, fired up a packed crowd of supporters in Detroit with a cry of “give it up for public health.” El-Sayed, a leftist former medical administrator who became the surprise candidate in Michigan’s Senate race, has built his political identity around a pledge to make health care free for all Americans. “You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill on the back,” he said on the eve of midterm elections that could change the course of Donald Trump’s presidency by taking control of Congress away from him.
El-Sayed has drawn huge campaign crowds across Michigan with his promises to make healthcare free, even in deeply conservative Republican areas. “(He saw) greater need for systemic change, and so he said ‘I’m going to go into public health,’ which is kickass,” said rally-goer Laura Knowles Tas, 67, as she handed out “Abdul” pins. “He’s going to get a hell of a lot of pushback. My hope is that we’re going to have kind of a blue wave” on Tuesday, she said, alluding to the color of the Democrats.
Along with “money out of politics” and “money in your pocket,” vowing to upend America’s divisive multi-billion dollar for-profit medical system has energized support for the unlikely candidate and become his campaign battle cry. “We see in real time on the ground what happens when the system fails our patients,” said Rob Davidson, an emergency physician in west Michigan. “(The Republicans have) made prices go up for everything and they’ve cut people off healthcare … to give tax cuts to billionaires,” added Davidson, executive director of the Committee to Protect Healthcare. At the rally where speakers insisted victory was in sight, House of Representatives candidate Donavan McKinney accused Trump of moving to postpone major healthcare cuts until after Tuesday’s election. “We are going to hold their asses accountable,” he said to cheers.
– ‘A really huge thing’ – El-Sayed is hoping to become the first Democratic doctor in the Senate since 1969, and the first ever public health official in the powerful upper chamber after running medical systems across Michigan. He was making his closing pitch to Michigan voters in the Majestic Theatre, located in a Detroit community that is one of America’s poorest and where many residents depend on the government-funded healthcare programs Medicare and Medicaid. It is those safety net programs he has vowed to expand to all Americans.
“If he is able to do this, it’ll mean universal health care for all. It will mean going to the doctor without needing high co-pays and high medical bills,” said attendee Teri Bright, 30. “That’ll be a really huge thing if he could pull it off.” Republicans including his opponent Mike Rogers insist El-Sayed’s plans rob patients of their right to choose doctors and hospitals. “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare,” Trump said at a private event this year, adding that such responsibilities could be handled at the state level while Washington focuses on “military protection.”
El-Sayed leaned hard on his policy credentials Sunday after Democratic Representative Haley Stevens, whom he beat in the bitter primary for the Senate race, endorsed his Republican opponent Rogers. “I’m just less interested in the politics of it all than I am the policies of it all,” he said in the aftermath. In the wake of the bitter party spat which threatened to distract attention from the crucial final hours of campaigning, El-Sayed’s campaign said it raised $2.4 million Sunday — a single-day record for the 42-year-old.
– Gregory WALTON
© 2024 AFP
