Abdul El-Sayed once claimed Obama was not the right choice. He is now set to campaign alongside the former president: ‘He did his best’

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, used an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press this past Sunday to address earlier criticism he had made of former President Barack Obama. Host Kristen Welker specifically asked him about language from a Huffington Post op-ed he published after Obama won reelection in 2012.

In that piece, El-Sayed wrote that “Obama was not the right choice. He just wasn’t the wrong one.” He also pointed to specific disagreements with the former president’s record, including the number of deportations carried out during those years and the expansion of drone strikes in the Middle East.

When Welker raised the topic, El-Sayed pointed to the two terms the country has since spent under President Trump. “So, look, I know that President Obama was handed a really difficult set of circumstances, and he did his best,” he told her.

El-Sayed says he has come to value Obama’s approach after his own time in politics

El-Sayed told Welker that he and other Democrats running in 2026 may still “push on in different ways than his administration.” At the same time, he said any such differences exist “because we’ve learned from what he’s done and because we stand on the shoulders of giants.”

He added that he remains thankful he was a young man in his twenties during the Obama presidency and that he never imagined then that he would one day run for office himself. El-Sayed said he finds it difficult to fully put into words how much he appreciates the former president.

The candidate described Obama as displaying “elegance, the grace, the commitment under pressure” while dealing with “the basket of terrible things he was handed by the Bush era.” He said the former president “handled it all.”

“You go up and you start to appreciate just how hard change is and how important it is to pick up and push,” El-Sayed said.

According to The Hill, Obama is scheduled to join El-Sayed for a campaign event in Detroit on October 24, the first day Michigan offers in-person early voting. The campaign trail in Michigan has drawn national attention, as a latest survey reveals El Sayed leads Mike Rogers by a 7 point margin in the Michigan Senate race.

The stop will come roughly a month after former Vice President Kamala Harris also campaigned with El-Sayed. Obama will appear at the same time with Jocelyn Benson, the Democrat running for governor of Michigan.

In a statement issued last Tuesday, El-Sayed said he “cannot wait” for Obama to come back to the state and called him “a champion for healthcare access and a historical trailblazer of our time.” He added that Obama “knows what it means to deliver for Michiganders – that’s why he won our state twice” and that “His support is critical as we fight to put Michigan families first by bringing down costs and ending Trump’s chaos in Washington.”

Decision Desk HQ, currently rates El-Sayed’s chance of defeating Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in the Senate race at 70 percent.Rogers is given a 30 percent chance of winning the seat. The race has drawn national attention from prominent voices, such as Tucker Carlson backing Democrat Abdul El Sayed as he slams Republican Mike Rogers unfit to serve.