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Abdul El-Sayed is taking aim at Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over his decision not to commit to a debate, accusing him of hiding behind massive Super PAC spending. El-Sayed points to roughly $45 million in Super PAC support and corporate-backed spending, arguing that voters deserve a direct conversation between the candidates.

The heated exchange puts debate politics, Super PAC money, corporate influence and the Michigan Senate race in the spotlight.

Watch the full remarks and decide for yourself: Is Rogers avoiding a debate, or is there more to the decision?

#AbdulElSayed #MikeRogers #MichiganSenate #MichiganPolitics #SenateRace #Election2026 #SuperPAC #PACMoney #USPolitics #SenateElection #PoliticalNews #ElectionNews #CorporateMoney #Debate

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00:00Mike Rogers, during Trump's come up, used to talk about how dangerous Donald Trump was.
00:06And now he does not see a policy that Donald Trump wants that he is not willing to kowtow
00:11to and rubber stamp.
00:13He's willing to lick all the boots, so long as Donald Trump will keep giving him a thumbs
00:18up.
00:19This is Donald Trump's Mike Rogers.
00:22Make no mistake about it.
00:24He is a corporate shill and a Donald Trump suck up.
00:30And in November, we'll send him back to Florida where he belongs.
00:35A man who's taken us to a war he can't seem to figure out how to get us out of,
00:40that's
00:41taught the Ayatollahs how to squeeze our energy, raised our gas prices to near $5 a gallon.
00:49And Mike Rogers, during Trump's come up, used to talk about how dangerous Donald Trump
00:54was.
00:55And now he does not see a policy that Donald Trump wants that he is not willing to kowtow
01:00to and rubber stamp.
01:02He's willing to lick all the boots, so long as Donald Trump will keep giving him a thumbs
01:07up.
01:08This is Donald Trump's Mike Rogers.
01:11Make no mistake about it.
01:13He is a corporate shill and a Donald Trump suck up.
01:19And in November, we'll send him back to Florida where he belongs.
01:25So with that, I'd be happy to take any questions that folks might have, Joey.
01:39The last time I saw Jake Lang, he had tried to pull a similar stunt at one of our canvas
01:46launches.
01:48And I wouldn't have noticed them except for his anklet.
01:53Because this is a convicted January 6th terrorist.
01:59And when we realized who he was and what he was trying to do, we also realized that he
02:05actually, his issue isn't with me or people like me.
02:09His issue is with America itself.
02:11His issue is with free and fair elections.
02:14His issue is with the idea that America can be a big place where we come together around
02:20ideals.
02:20What does I Pluribus Una mean in the first place?
02:23And so, yeah, he's going to continue to pull stunts on behalf of people like Donald Trump
02:27and Mike Rogers, who believe that America is a small place, that your name or your family
02:35heritage should dictate whether or not you belong here.
02:38But I'll tell you this, I think I speak for all of us who have uncommon names or uncommon
02:46heritage or who love in ways that folks like him don't understand or don't look like the
02:53picture perfect of what he thinks America cannot include.
03:02And the America I know, the Michigan I know, is full of open-minded, big-hearted people.
03:09They're less concerned with how you pray than what you pray or you hope for.
03:14Less concerned with what your name is and a lot more concerned with whether or not you
03:17care to know their name.
03:20People like him are afraid of that kind of America.
03:23And there's been a long effort by people like him, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Mike Rogers,
03:28to make America smaller, to make us smaller, to limit what we can be.
03:33And I believe in a big America.
03:36I believe in the America where people come together, not despite their differences, but
03:40because of their differences, understanding that the things we need, we need together.
03:44That when we look at our kids in the eye, we want the same things for them.
03:47That we love in the same way, that we hurt in the same way.
03:50And that when America works for all of us, it works better for any of us.
03:54So, people like that can keep trying to limit what America is, but they keep showing themselves
04:00for who they are.
04:01And America will keep showing itself for who we are.
04:04An America that is big enough for everybody.
04:11Two more questions.
04:29You know, there's been an effort, I think, to divide people against each other.
04:34And unfortunately, you see that, the consequence of that.
04:38To tell us that some group or another group have to be counterposed because there's not
04:42enough for all of us.
04:43I am Arab.
04:44I'm also African.
04:46My family immigrated to this country from Egypt.
04:48I'm proud of my African heritage.
04:50And when people try to divide us based on identity or ethnicity, sometimes we miss the
04:55nuances that make us whole and that make us human.
04:59And regardless of what my name is or what my heritage might be, when I look at my daughters
05:05in the eye, the question I'm always asking is, how do we build an America where they and
05:12all of their sisters and brothers, regardless of the color of skin or where they grew up,
05:15have the basic things that they need in their lives?
05:17And my work has entirely been about dignifying that.
05:20And I left a role in the academy to come to rebuild a health department in the city of Detroit,
05:25to serve what was at that point 85% black city.
05:28Because I also understand that if we're not serious about racial equity, we're not serious
05:32about building the kind of America that America is supposed to be.
05:35Put glasses on tens of thousands of kids' faces, took on big corporate polluters, inspected
05:41schools when their boilers weren't working, made sure that they weren't drinking lead in
05:45their water, eliminated medical debt.
05:48And that has been about a service that is rendered to communities that might not look
05:54like me or pray like me.
05:55But we certainly hold this space, this America together.
05:58And when anybody suffers for lack of the kind of government services they deserve, all of
06:03us suffer.
06:04So that's been the vision that I've operated on my whole life.
06:07Now, there's always going to be folks like Donald Trump or J.D. Vance who want to divide
06:11us and tell us that if one community has any success, the other community loses it.
06:16That only some groups of people can thrive here.
06:20But I've always believed in the kind of America that I saw in my own house.
06:23I grew up in a house built by Mohammed and Jackie, Egyptian immigrant from the northeast
06:27corner of Africa and a daughter of the American Revolution whose family's been here since before
06:32the Revolutionary War.
06:33And I saw what they built together, a home that's greater than the sum of its parts.
06:37So I'm really grateful for that.
06:39And the only way you oppose the kind of zero-sum politics that tell us that there's only enough
06:44to go around for a few is to come together with communities believing that what we can
06:51gain together is so much bigger than what we fight for alone.
06:54So I'd love the opportunity to sit down with that gentleman.
06:57I really would.
06:58I'd love the opportunity to understand his perspective and what he fears.
07:01Because at the end of the day, I care as much that he has Medicare as I care that you
07:05have Medicare, that I care that everybody here has Medicare because I want Medicare for
07:08all, I care as much that our government is bought off so he doesn't have to pay an inflated
07:12DTE bill or an inflated Blue Cross bill, as I care that anybody here doesn't have their
07:17government corrupted by a few corporations.
07:19I care that he has a union just like everybody here deserves a union.
07:22Because it's when we think together about our differences to come across them, to build
07:27beyond them, that's when we make America what it really is and we fulfill that promise.
07:31So I appreciate you asking the question.
07:32I hope someday I get to sit down with him.
07:33I'm sure we have an amazing conversation.
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