Bernie Sanders Is Betting Big On El-Sayed With The Midterm Clock Ticking

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) threw Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a $1 million lifeline on Wednesday to bolster his Senate bid against Republican Mike Rogers.  

Sanders then started working the phones to raise more money for El-Sayed after learning that the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee was preparing to spend up to $9 million to help Rogers win. 

“What I have done today was not only put a million into Abdul’s campaign, but we are also reaching out to other individuals to try to raise money because this is just outrageous,” Sanders told The New York Times.

By the end of the day, his team had rounded up $300,000 in pledges from about a dozen Democrats, according to a statement from Sanders. He acknowledged that his fundraising would not match the outside spending against El-Sayed but said it could help his campaign compete.

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“That’s nowhere near what AIPAC is doing,” Sanders said. “It’s nowhere near what other super PACs — billionaire-funded super PACs — are doing. But it is a way to stand with democracy and with Abdul’s campaign.”

The lifeline came from a deep well. Sanders, a longtime critic of big money in politics, entered October with $22.4 million in his campaign account. He had already given $250,000 in the first week of the month to the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee El-Sayed shares with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Michigan Democratic Party.

Sanders isn’t the only leftist heavyweight propping up the campaign. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who rallied with Sanders for El-Sayed over the summer, also directed $1 million toward the race while campaigning in Michigan last week.

El-Sayed has also been making calls himself. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said he reached out Wednesday after the Times report with a simple request: “Can you help?” Her leadership PAC spent $350,000 backing El-Sayed in the primary, and she told the Times she is weighing how much more she can give.

The money is pouring in for a race that’s razor-thin. A recent Fox News poll found El-Sayed leading Rogers by a single point among likely voters, 50% to 49%, well within the poll’s 3-percentage-point margin of error.

Rogers is also contending with voter frustration over rising costs during the war in Iran. The national average for a gallon of gas has climbed above $4.27, up from under $3 before the war, according to AAA. Rogers has tried to distance himself from the conflict, telling voters in a campaign ad that “the war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly.” But at Wednesday’s debate, he also said he supports the reasoning behind it. 

“You want to pay $8 [for] a gallon of gas, let Iran get a nuclear weapon,” he said. “You lose control of that whole region,” Rogers said.

El-Sayed has faced allegations of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and backlash over campaigning with Hasan Piker, the streamer who said “America deserved 9/11.” He has also faced criticism for presenting himself as a physician despite lacking a medical license in Michigan or New York, and over a resurfaced clip showing him hating on one of Michigan’s most beloved vacation destinations, Mackinac Island.