El-Sayed spoke with Obama as Michigan Democrats look to unite after a bitter Senate primary

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, said Sunday he has spoken with Barack Obama and hopes the former president campaigns with him as the party tries to unite after a bitter primary that exposed deep rifts between its progressive and moderate wings.

El-Sayed said his Friday conversation with Obama was “really warm and inspiring.” The candidate did not provide details.

“I was grateful for his advice. It was very warm, very inviting, and I know that he knows the critical role that Michigan is going to play,” El-Sayed told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Asked if he would like to see Obama come to Michigan to drum up support for Democrats before the midterm elections in November, El-Sayed said he “really” hoped so and that Obama “knows a lot about winning Michigan” after carrying the state in the 2008 and 2012 presidential races.

An Obama spokesperson confirmed the call.

The discussion came the same day that a group of Michigan nominees and other notable national Democrats tried to present a united front at a rally in Detroit. The crowd cheered loudest for El-Sayed, a former public health official who last week narrowly beat establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in a contentious and closely watched primary. A Democratic victory in the fall is crucial to the party’s chances of regaining a Senate majority.

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is not seeking reelection in the perennial swing state, which Republican Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2024, while Democrat Joe Biden carried in 2020.

El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who narrowly lost the Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in 2024 and has tried to capitalize on lingering tensions within the Democratic Party.

Rogers has released a video message attempting to appeal to Democrats who feel their party may be moving too far to the left with El-Sayed. “You have a home with us,” Rogers says in the video.

During an interview Sunday with CNN’s “State of the Union,” El-Sayed acknowledged that “we aired our differences” in the heated primary. But he said the internal divisions are “so much smaller than the similarities that we share.”

“You’re seeing folks come together,” El-Sayed said, before adding of moderate Democrats, “We might see the world differently. But we also recognize the responsibility to come together.”