Wisconsin Didn’t Owe Hillary Its Votes, and Detroit Doesn’t Owe El-Sayed Its Votes Either

Hillary Clinton found time to seek Wisconsin’s electoral votes in 2016 but didn’t find time to campaign here during the general election. Ten years later, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed has supplied Michigan with a different expression of the same political danger: laughing when an opponent asks traditional Democratic voters to reconsider.

As a Wisconsin voter, I remembered what Clinton’s absence looked like. Our state was, and still is, worth winning, apparently, but the nominee could leave the personal appearance to somebody else.

Clinton made no Wisconsin campaign visits between June 7 and Election Day. Tim Kaine and other surrogates came. Donald Trump came, too. Her campaign operated here, but its presidential candidate remained elsewhere.

Wisconsin delivered its answer. After the recount, Trump’s margin stood at 22,748 votes. Clinton’s absence didn’t establish why every voter chose as they did, and nobody can prove one rally would’ve reversed the result. Her travel schedule nevertheless remains a remarkable example of confidence exceeding the outcome. Now consider Detroit.

Asked about Mike Rogers opening a campaign office on Livernois Avenue, El-Sayed laughed and described a “cute little office in Detroit,” dismissing those attending as suburban friends. He also argued that Rogers offered struggling people no meaningful message.

When asked about the Rogers campaign opening a storefront office on Livernois Avenue in Detroit as part of its effort to win over Black voters, El-Sayed answered with a laugh.

“I saw he opened a cute little office in Detroit where he brought all his friends from the suburbs to come clap him in. It was nice, yeah,” El-Sayed said. “He’s got no actual message for anyone who is struggling to make ends meet.”

Marcia Turner, who attended the Flint rally, said she was optimistic about El-Sayed, who she called “the right person at the right time.” But even her kind words underscored a history of some tension between the Black and Arab communities of Michigan.

A Republican entering Democratic territory ought to provoke a better response than amusement. People who hear him out might have concerns their usual party hasn’t answered. Sneering at the invitation hardly answers those questions.

The warning signs were already visible. Haley Stevens beat El-Sayed in Detroit’s Democratic primary by 28%. Winning the statewide nomination plainly hadn’t settled his relationship with the city’s voters.

From Bridge Detroit:

El-Sayed, an Egyptian American Muslim, said Black Detroiters have faced discrimination from people who look like him and said his commitment to racial equity is “foundational in why I do what I do.” 

“Too often, when you’re a Black Detroiter, your interaction with somebody that looks like me is that you’re watching a kid get sold a loosie out the back, or interacting behind bulletproof glass, or being told that there’s not a bathroom when there really is one. That’s awful, unacceptable,” he said, referencing Black Detroiters who say they are mistreated and discriminated against at Arab and Chaldean-owned gas stations in the city. “My interaction with the city has always been to try to lead with, and for, Black Detroiters, and to frankly stand up to people who look like me when they’re doing the wrong thing.”

Nor has he simply avoided Detroit. He has campaigned there, and supporters credit him with listening and responding to criticism. His argument has included confidence that Detroit’s opposition to MAGA will help unite Democrats behind him.

Clinton’s absence and his presence therefore aren’t identical campaign failures. The comparison concerns the attitude toward persuadable voters. A candidate can arrive in a neighborhood and still underestimate the people living there.

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Even his supporters understood the risk. Detroit pastor Charles Williams warned that small defections or failures to turn out could jeopardize the Democratic nominee. Charity Dean, another supporter, urged people to take Rogers’ outreach seriously.

Meanwhile, Rogers supporter Naura Evans argued that Democrats had taken black voters for granted.

From ABC 17 News:

She said she feels that Democrats have taken Black voters for granted over the years, so she spends time going door-to-door in Warren, Troy and Sterling Heights, trying to persuade voters to join her in supporting Rogers.

“It’s very important that we elect the right people,” Evans said. “As Blacks in our community, we show that our vote matters. We’re not just giving the vote away.”

She said the Rogers campaign should get credit for opening an office in Detroit.

“I’ve seen Mike Rogers definitely step out of his space and go into the Black community,” Evans said. “I think it’s practical and I think it’s also symbolic that he cares about Detroit. He could have opened an office anywhere and he chose Detroit.”

Rogers doesn’t need every dissatisfied Democrat to become a Republican. In a close contest, fewer votes for his opponent can help him, whether those voters switch candidates or leave the Senate race blank. A small loss of enthusiasm can carry a high political cost.

Black voters have every right to compare candidates on schools, neighborhood safety, housing, jobs, and their families’ futures. Their previous ballots impose no obligation on their next ones. Democrats who celebrate voter independence elsewhere should manage to respect it in Detroit.

A party that wants another term should welcome a comparison of its record with the challenger’s promises. If its answer to dissatisfaction is that the other side must be worse, voters are entitled to ask why their own priorities keep waiting until the next election.

Clinton’s Wisconsin strategy left her explaining a defeat she hadn’t anticipated. Michigan’s result remains undecided, but  El-Sayed has already heard warnings from people who want him to win. Laughing at the competition looks especially foolish when your own supporters recognize the danger.

Wisconsin owed Hillary Clinton a fair election and gave her one. Detroit owes its Democratic Senate nominee the same opportunity to compete. The votes belong to the people casting them, and every candidate should campaign as though they know it.

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