民主党参议院初选激烈角逐过后，党内谋求凝聚共识，阿卜杜勒・埃尔 - 赛义德与奥巴马展开交流 密歇根州民主党联邦参议员候选人阿卜杜勒・埃尔 - 赛义德于周日透露，自己与前总统巴拉克・奥巴马进行了一场 “氛围十分融洽” 的谈话。此前一周，该州民主党参议院初选竞争激烈、矛盾突出，民主党正全力弥合党内分歧，谋求统一战线。
埃尔 - 赛义德做客 CNN《国情咨文》栏目，接受主持人杰克・塔珀采访时表示：“私人谈话本不该对外细说，但这次交流确实格外暖心。我十分感谢他给出的建议。我们前路挑战重重，但全党上下都清楚，我们必须拿下密歇根州席位、重新掌控参议院，追究特朗普的相关责任，在这件事上大家目标完全一致。”
埃尔 - 赛义德与奥巴马的幕僚透露，这场谈话在埃尔 - 赛义德险胜建制派青睐的温和派众议员黑莉・史蒂文斯几天后举行。二人重点探讨如何团结全体民主党人，在 11 月大选守住密歇根这一关键参议院席位。
眼下摆在埃尔 - 赛义德面前的核心难题是：他能否复刻奥巴马 2008、2012 年总统大选的经验，整合多元选民阵营，拿下这座摇摆州。多名民主党高层已迅速表态支持埃尔 - 赛义德，但初选期间，埃尔 - 赛义德猛烈抨击史蒂文斯获得美国以色列公共事务委员会(AIPAC)扶持，不少原本支持史蒂文斯的选民心生不满，埃尔 - 赛义德争取这部分人的支持依旧困难重重。
共和党一心放大民主党内部裂痕，伺机夺下该席位。共和党候选人迈克・罗杰斯上周五直接面向镜头喊话，拉拢对初选结果失望的史蒂文斯支持者。
史蒂文斯在初选落败后，第一时间表态背书埃尔 - 赛义德，还表示愿意与其同台助选。
不过奥巴马并未承诺会现身埃尔 - 赛义德的竞选活动。
当被问及这位人气前总统是否会为自己站台时，埃尔 - 赛义德称自己满怀期待。
他对塔珀说：“我们还有大量工作要推进，但这次谈话十分暖心，我由衷感激他给予的指导与提点。”
纵观 2026 年整个选举周期，奥巴马的政治号召力始终是高风险竞选里极具价值的筹码。
这场民主党初选角逐白热化，奥巴马并未公开站队，但他的影响力始终笼罩整场选战。外部政治团体投放大量电视广告，一边将奥巴马与史蒂文斯绑定造势，一边翻出埃尔 - 赛义德过往批评前第一夫人米歇尔・奥巴马反肥胖公益项目的言论，对其进行攻击。
竞选路上，埃尔 - 赛义德也常被外界拿来和奥巴马对比。 2018 年，埃尔 - 赛义德首次参选公职，立志成为美国首位穆斯林州长。他出身常春藤名校、演讲风格出众，当时就频繁被舆论比作美国首位非洲裔总统奥巴马。埃尔 - 赛义德虽承认自己与奥巴马存在相似之处，但也曾表示奥巴马当年的政策革新力度不足，史蒂文斯阵营在初选阶段便抓住这一点大肆攻击。
但周日采访中，埃尔 - 赛义德对奥巴马满是推崇，称能得到奥巴马的竞选指导是莫大荣幸。
这位左翼进步派候选人回忆，2004 年民主党全国代表大会上，奥巴马发表主旨演讲，为当年总统候选人约翰・克里站台，那一幕让他深受触动。
埃尔 - 赛义德说：“那是我第一次在政坛人物身上，看到和自己相似的身影。”
Abdul El-Sayed and Barack Obama spoke as Democrats seek to unify following heated Senate primary
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday described a “really warm” conversation with former President Barack Obama as the partyseeks to find a path forwardfollowing last week’s bruising primary.
“I like to keep private conversations private, but it was a really, really warm conversation,” El-Sayed told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “I was really grateful for his advice, and we’ve got a long road to go here, but we’re perfectly unified in the need to win Michigan, take back the Senate, and hold Donald Trump accountable.”
During the conversation — which took place just days after El-Sayed, a progressive, narrowly defeated moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, the Democratic establishment’s preferred candidate — they discussed how to bring Democrats together to retain Michigan’s critical Senate seat in November, according to representatives for El-Sayed and Obama.
It’s the major question facing El-Sayed: Whether he can build a coalition, as Obama did in his 2008 and 2012 presidential runs, to win the battleground state. While prominent Democrats have moved quickly to back El-Sayed, he may still face an uphill battle in courting Stevens voters unhappy with his primary campaign, during which he sharply criticized his rival over her support from the pro-Israel group AIPAC.
Republicans are hoping to dig into those divisions as they seek to flip the seat — GOP nominee Mike Rogersmade a direct-to-camera pitchto disappointed Stevens voters on Friday.
For her part, Stevens quickly endorsed El-Sayed after his win and said she would be open to campaigning with him.
Obama, however, has not gone so far as to say he would join the former public health official on the campaign trail.
Pressed on if the popular former president would join him, El-Sayed said he hoped so.
“Obviously we’ve got a lot more to do here, but it was a really, really warm conversation, and I was really, really grateful for his advice and his mentorship,” he told Tapper.
Obama’s political brand has proved to be a durable asset in high-stakes campaigns throughout the 2026 election cycle.
While Obama did not weigh in on the hotly contested Democratic primary to take on Rogers, his name loomed over the race. Outside groups spent heavily on abarrage of television ads tying him to Stevensand highlighting El-Sayed’spast criticismof former first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative.
On the campaign trail, El-Sayed has also evoked comparisons to Obama.
During El-Sayed’s first run for elected office in 2018 as he sought to become the nation’s first Muslim governor, his Ivy League background and rhetorical style drew frequent comparisons to that of the first Black president. While El-Sayed has noted commonalities with Obama, he’s argued that the former president’s politics didn’t go far enough — something that Stevens’ campaign pointed to during the primary.
But on Sunday, El-Sayed spoke admiringly of Obama, saying that it was an honor to get his advice on the campaign going forward.
The progressive described watching Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he delivered akeynote speechin support of then-presidential nominee John Kerry.
“It’s the first time I ever saw myself reflected in politics at all,” El-Sayed said.
