<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/michigan/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michigan</a> Democratic Senate nominee <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/abdul-el-sayed/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Abdul el Sayed</a> on Sunday attributed his past criticisms of former President <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/barack-obama/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Barack Obama</a> to his "younger" and "angry" self as they prepare to campaign together ahead of the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/midterm-elections/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">midterm elections</a>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In an interview on NBC’s <em>Meet the Press</em>, el Sayed was asked if he had any reservations about the rally with Obama at the end of the month, considering his previous scrutiny of the former president’s foreign, immigration, and healthcare policies.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I think the person who wrote those op-eds when I was younger — I was younger, right, and I was angry about circumstances,” el Sayed stated.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The op-ed el Sayed referenced was published in the <em>Huffington Post</em> during Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, where he criticized Obama for not fulfilling a promised progressive agenda, stating, “he was not the right choice — he just wasn’t the wrong one.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">El Sayed mentioned that he read Obama’s 1995 memoir, <em>Dreams from My Father</em>, and identified with Obama’s portrayal of himself as “somebody who’s frustrated and wants things to be better.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“You grow up, you start to appreciate just how hard change is and how important it is to pick up and push,” el Sayed said. “And that’s not to say that there aren’t things that you know we’re going to push on in different ways than his administration led, but it is to say that where we push differently, it is because we’ve learned from what he’s done and because we stand on the shoulders of giants.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Obama is scheduled to visit Michigan at the end of the month to campaign with el Sayed, who is viewed as a more progressive Democrat compared to the former president. Obama <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/4761007/democrats-see-hope-obama-campaign-trail-2026-elections/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">disputed the notion</a> that el Sayed is too far left to align with older Democrats during a fundraiser on Wednesday.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I’m going to go to Michigan to campaign for Abdul el Sayed,” Obama stated. “And people are like, ‘Well, he’s really left wing.’ But I don’t know — he’s for a higher minimum wage and healthcare for all, and it doesn’t seem crazy to me. You know, FDR was for that, too.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Polling in Michigan suggests a competitive race as el Sayed faces Trump-backed Mike Rogers, prompting significant outside spending from Republicans to maintain their Senate majority. Democrats aim to counter this momentum in the final weeks before the election, with Obama’s involvement indicating confidence in flipping the competitive seat to blue.</p>