Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed wrapped up his tour of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula tonight with a packed rally inside Marquette’s Vandament Stadium, 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 are most likely to support Democrats. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the stage first, launching a direct attack on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, accusing him of doing little for people’s interests 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 really shows is 14 years of saying one thing to Michiganders and turning around and doing something else in Washington,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Ocasio-Cortez, given the opportunity to test her own political message in a battleground state, focused her speech on access to reproductive care, food prices, access to health care and the high cost of living. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to head south to Pontiac, Dearborn and Detroit on Friday, where she will campaign for El-Sayed alongside Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Debbie Dingel. El-Sayed took the stage to the tune of Tupac’s “changes” and gave his speech to a roaring crowd. “It shouldn’t be that hard to see a doctor, it shouldn’t be that hard to pay taxes and know that that money is going to be spent on you and your kids instead of dropping a bomb on someone else and their kids,” El-Sayed said. The candidate will continue his campaign across Michigan tomorrow, staying in the Upper Peninsula to make a stop in Sault St. Marie for a rally at Lake Superior State University.
