Black voters stayed home in 2016 and Donald Trump won Michigan.
Abdul El-Sayed barely survived his primary without the black vote and Democrats nominated him anyway.
What those two Democrats said on camera is a growing problem for El-Sayed.
Black Detroit Voters Just Handed El-Sayed a Brutal Poll Number
Two Black Democrats who have served on the Pontiac city council went on Fox News to endorse Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers – and they weren't holding their noses.
They genuinely like him, said so on camera, and made clear this isn't a protest vote.
It's a repudiation.
A recent Fox News poll found only 77 percent of black Michigan voters supporting El-Sayed.
The historical benchmark for a Democrat to win statewide in Michigan is north of 90 percent black support.
Seventy-seven percent doesn't win Michigan – it loses it.
And that collapse didn't start in October.
Before the August primary, polling showed establishment Democrat Haley Stevens leading El-Sayed among black Michigan voters by 46 points – and black voters backed her on election day.
He won statewide anyway – because in the Democratic Party, black voters don't pick the candidate, they're told who to accept.
A focus group of black Michigan voters conducted ahead of November found the same reluctance.
One middle-aged black woman in that group said: "I think he's taking advantage of the fact that we as black people are Democratic, and he thinks we gonna vote for him anyway."
Michigan's own Flint Mayor – a Democrat – publicly blasted his party for treating black voters like a resource to strip-mine, not a constituency to serve.
Democrats blew right past him, and now the bill is due.
Obama Endorses El-Sayed and Detroit Black Voters Call It a Turnoff
El-Sayed's answer was to call Barack Obama – the man he publicly called a failure as recently as 2017.
In 2012, El-Sayed wrote that Obama had "perpetuated war, violated our civil liberties, deported more people from our shores than any other president" – and that "the list of his failures goes on."
He described Obama's reelection as "the rock we chose over the hard place."
Then in 2017, running for Michigan governor, El-Sayed again dismissed Obama's "fairly centrist, middle-of-the-road Democratic policies."
El-Sayed built his entire political identity on being the anti-Obama left, and now, with his campaign stalling in the final stretch, he's suddenly Obama's biggest fan.
Detroit black voters are not buying it.
"Honestly, it's a turn-off just because I've seen too many candidates use him just to manipulate the Democratic vote," Mercedes, an undecided black voter in Detroit, told Fox News Digital.
Anthony, another undecided black voter, was direct when asked whether the endorsement moved him: "He really hasn't swayed me one way or another."
Juanita said: "I don't want to be pushed to vote for him because somebody else is backing him."
These are Detroit Democrats saying this – the exact voters El-Sayed needs to run up massive margins with to have any shot in November.
"President Obama is parachuting into Michigan in a desperate attempt to revive Conman Abdul's floundering campaign," senior communications adviser Greg Manz told Blaze News.
El-Sayed DSA Agenda Is Costing Democrats Black Votes in Michigan
The Washington Times warned in July that the party had been abandoning black voters – its most dependable constituency – to chase DSA-backed socialist candidates who don't share that community's values.
Black Detroit voters don't support defunding the police – El-Sayed's DSA allies do. They don't want Medicare for All wiping out their union-negotiated health plans – that's El-Sayed's signature promise.
And they have no patience for a candidate who publicly called the first black president a failure right up until he needed a rescue.
Mike Rogers is within striking distance of flipping this seat.
If black turnout in Detroit falls – or even a fraction of that community crosses over – this race goes red.
Democrats had every warning – from the Flint mayor, from the primary numbers, from their own focus groups – and ignored all of it.
They chose ideology over electability, and Mike Rogers is ready to collect.
Sources:
- Robert Schmad, "Obama's star power gets a reality check from Black voters in crucial Senate race," Fox News Digital, October 16, 2026.
- "Fox News Poll: Senate battle looms in Michigan," Fox News, August 13, 2026.
- Mike LaChance, "Michigan Democratic Senate Candidate El-Sayed's Achilles' Heel," Legal Insurrection, August 2026.
- "Abdul El-Sayed Criticized Obama for Years. Now They're Campaigning Together," National Review, October 2026.
- Greg Manz, quoted in "Obama rushes to rescue Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit – GOP issues scathing response," Blaze News, October 2026.
- "Black Voters Rejecting Socialism," The Washington Times, July 16, 2026.