2026-10-20T19:29:33.230Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
底特律讯——
阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德经常谈及要打造一个全新且广泛的密歇根选民联盟。在这场事关全局的参议院选举中，一个迫在眉睫的问题是，他能否保住原有的选民基础——尤其是对于民主党任何胜选都至关重要的黑人选民。
共和党候选人、前众议员迈克·罗杰斯数月来一直努力打入传统民主党票仓，这些选民在埃尔赛义德与众议员黑利·史蒂文斯激烈的初选中并未支持埃尔赛义德这位进步派前卫生官员。
尽管自2026年中期选举周期启动以来，密歇根州的电视广告支出已超过2.8亿美元，广告牌和竞选标语牌随着秋日落叶遍布全州，但一些政治领袖担忧，在选举临近尾声之际，黑人选民对埃尔赛义德的热情是否足够高涨。
“底特律只要有这么一点选民倒戈，弗林特只要有这么一点选民倒戈，”底特律历史悠久的所罗门王浸信会牧师查尔斯·威廉姆斯二世说道，他将手指分开约一英寸来强调自己的观点，“哪怕只有一小部分人不出来投票，你想要让候选人跨过胜选线就会遇到巨大挑战。”
密歇根州对于民主党在11月3日的选举中净增四个席位以拿下参议院控制权的目标至关重要。如果民主党无法保住即将退休的民主党参议员加里·彼得斯的席位，他们争取多数席位的道路将变得更加艰难，且几乎只能寄望于比这个中西部老牌政治战场更偏红的州。
埃尔赛义德在8月初选中仅以1个百分点的优势击败史蒂文斯——这场险胜得益于他在阿拉伯裔和穆斯林社区、年轻选民以及大学城进步派选民中的强劲支持。
但史蒂文斯也有明显的优势：底特律市内及周边的黑人选民大多支持她，长期以来对埃尔赛义德深感担忧的犹太选民亦是如此。埃尔赛义德是穆斯林，且强烈批评以色列在加沙的行动。
罗杰斯在竞选的最后几周将争取这些选民群体作为核心竞选策略，他希望组建一个比2018年（上一次有唐纳德·特朗普总统参选的中期选举）更有利于共和党的选民联盟。当年民主党在密歇根州拿下四项全州性选举，胜幅均在7至9个百分点左右。
在周二底特律经济俱乐部的论坛上，罗杰斯吹嘘自己“组建了对于共和党候选人而言非常非传统的联盟”。
他提到了多项计划：激励底特律的新房建设、将建筑项目与高中学徒计划挂钩、消除该市的“食品沙漠”。他还表示，许多民主党人告诉他，他们担忧民主社会主义者在党内的影响力日益上升。
“我们在底特律、弗林特、庞蒂亚克投入了大量时间，”他列出了几个黑人人口众多的城市，“我认为，如果我们想要让州走上正轨，就必须让所有人都能分享到发展进步的成果。”
为了缓解民主党内部对埃尔赛义德的持续疑虑，前总统贝拉克·奥巴马即将访问密歇根州，他将在底特律参加一场周六的集会，与埃尔赛义德以及民主党州长候选人、密歇根州国务卿乔斯林·本森一同亮相。
近期还有其他知名黑人民主党人士访问密歇根州，包括前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯，她与埃尔赛义德共同主持了一场聚焦黑人孕产妇医疗保健的圆桌会议。佐治亚州参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克以及多名国会黑人核心小组成员也将前来为埃尔赛义德助选。
“不管他认为自己取得了多少进展，选民都很精明，”埃尔赛义德告诉CNN，“迈克·罗杰斯不过是唐纳德特朗普意愿的橡皮图章。他们完全清楚迈克·罗杰斯是谁。”
尽管与底特律各地的黑人领袖和选民的对话显示，他们普遍支持埃尔赛义德，但也出现了一些隐性担忧：有关这位候选人背景的问题可能会削弱支持率。阿拉伯裔和黑人社区之间的历史紧张关系也被提及为令人不安的因素。
“在势均力敌的选举中，哪怕对阿卜杜勒有一丝疑虑，都可能导致失败，”一位知名黑人领袖匿名告诉CNN，以便坦诚地讨论担忧，“而且这场选举的胶着程度远超正常水平。”
即便密歇根州知名黑人民主党领袖对参议院选情表示担忧，埃尔赛义德——近日正在密歇根上半岛竞选——却在淡化甚至嘲讽罗杰斯争取黑人选民的努力。上半岛人口稀少，他希望自己的民粹主义主张能削弱共和党一贯占据的优势。
在弗林特这个黑人占多数的城市的竞选活动中，周日下午有数百名支持者出席了埃尔赛义德的集会。挤满大型酒店会议室的观众中只有约十几名黑人，这在选举前两周的民主党竞选活动中显得格外引人注目。
事后在接受记者采访时，埃尔赛义德表示没有理由感到担忧。
“听着，当前经济面临的最大挑战之一就是，太多人不得不打多份工，不得不周末也加班，”他告诉CNN，“我们知道，正是唐纳德·特朗普这类人制定的政策，让黑人群体承受的打击最重。”
马萨诸塞州民主党众议员艾安娜·普雷斯利与他一同出席了集会，她是前来助选的黑人国会议员之一。
“我们对已经建立的关系感到非常有信心，并且会继续巩固这种关系，”埃尔赛义德在谈到他对黑人选民的争取工作时说道。
当被问及罗杰斯竞选团队在底特律利弗诺伊斯大道开设门店以争取黑人选民的举措时，埃尔赛义德笑着回答。
“我看到他在底特律开了一家可爱的小办公室，还把郊区的朋友都叫来捧场，挺好的，”埃尔赛义德说，“他没有真正为那些努力维持生计的人传递任何实际信息。”
出席弗林特集会的玛西娅·特纳表示，她对埃尔赛义德持乐观态度，称他“是恰逢其时的合适人选”。但即便她的正面评价也凸显了密歇根州黑人和阿拉伯裔社区之间的历史紧张关系。
“我很支持他参选，”特纳说，“我认为人们不再纠结于他的宗教信仰，而是看到他是一个想要为我们的子孙后代谋求福祉的人。”
诺拉·埃文斯是来自斯特林高地的一名教师，也是两个孩子的母亲，她是一位自豪的黑人共和党人。她出现在一则电视广告中，说道：“我曾为巴拉克·奥巴马投票，但今年，我要为迈克·罗杰斯投票。”
她表示自己在民主党家庭长大，但自2008年为奥巴马投票后，她的政治立场变得更加保守。她认为民主党执政以来，学校和社区并未得到改善，并认同罗杰斯的相关计划。
她表示，多年来民主党一直视黑人选民为理所当然，因此她会前往沃伦、特洛伊和斯特林 Heights挨家挨户游说，说服选民支持罗杰斯。
“选出合适的人非常重要，”埃文斯说，“作为我们社区的黑人，我们要证明我们的选票很重要。我们不能白白送出自己的选票。”
她称赞罗杰斯竞选团队在底特律开设办事处的举措。
“我看到迈克·罗杰斯确实打破了常规，深入黑人社区，”埃文斯说，“我认为这既务实又具有象征意义，表明他关心底特律。他本可以在任何地方开设办事处，但他选择了底特律。”
她驳斥了民主党对罗杰斯最主要的批评之一——他会成为特朗普的橡皮图章。
“这不是总统选举，而是参议员选举，最终迈克·罗杰斯会自己做出决定，”埃文斯说，“我相信他的决定不会受他人影响。”
昆廷·默里周日在底特律的一个木匠工会大厅听取了所有民主党候选人的发言。他表示自己刚开始进一步了解埃尔赛义德的参选情况，但很喜欢他的主张。
“我喜欢他带来的东西——新颖、与众不同，”这位木匠默里说，“他的文化背景不同，但当你看到这样的人时，会很高兴地发现我们有着相同的利益和价值观。”
即便在赞扬之余，默里也不经意地提到了埃尔赛义德的文化背景，这一直是此次竞选攻击广告中围绕其成长经历和信仰的激烈争论焦点。
埃尔赛义德是一名医生、前卫生官员，父母从埃及移民到美国，他在密歇根州出生并长大。
几乎在每一场竞选活动中，他都会简要介绍自己的家族历史，并回击一些针对他姓名的种族主义言论。特朗普经常贬低他的名字，还称他为“穆罕默德·阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德”。
罗杰斯试图将埃尔赛义德与穆斯林兄弟会联系起来——埃尔赛义德对此予以谴责——并将他描绘成同情与伊斯兰恐怖主义相关势力的人。共和党方面还援引了埃尔赛义德姐姐的旧推文，称埃尔赛义德的生母在20世纪70年代初上大学时曾参与穆斯林兄弟会的活动。在最近的一场辩论中，罗杰斯还指出埃尔赛义德的母亲曾为伊斯兰美国救济组织工作，该非营利组织在2004年被美国财政部列为支持恐怖主义的组织。埃尔赛义德主要由父亲和继母在密歇根州抚养长大。
“你的汽油买不起，不是因为我的名字和我的信仰；你的 groceries买不起，不是因为我的名字和我的信仰，”埃尔赛义德在弗林特对支持者说，“你看不了医生，也不是因为我的名字和我的信仰。事实上，如果你去看医生，很可能医生也有着和我一样的名字和信仰。”
慈善·迪恩拥有一家底特律咖啡店，同时也是密歇根黑人商业联盟主席，她说自己对底特律民众对埃尔赛义德的热情感到惊喜。
“底特律比人们想象的更保守——要保守得多，也温和得多，”迪恩说，“我认为他的竞选团队出色地打破了固有框架，问道：‘你对现状满意吗？你对无休止的战争满意吗？’”
自8月初选在底特律获得第二名以来，迪恩表示，埃尔赛义德一直在倾听选民的声音——无论是支持他的还是持怀疑态度的——并努力开展竞选活动以赢得他们的支持。
“他应对批评和质疑的能力为他赢得了大量支持，”迪恩说。
尽管迪恩表示，她看到罗杰斯为扩大对黑人选民的争取做了很多努力，包括投放电视广告和在底特律开设办事处，但她质疑这位共和党候选人的政策是否与他的竞选行动相符。
“任何事情都应该认真对待。今年我们不能掉以轻心，”迪恩说道，她正密切关注罗杰斯竞选团队的动向，“他确实想要争取他们的选票，但他并不想改善黑人的生活。这才是真正重要的。”
Democrats fear slippage with Black voters makes Michigan Senate race feel ‘far closer than it should’
2026-10-20T19:29:33.230Z / CNN
Detroit—
Abdul El-Sayed often talks about building a new and broad coalition of Michigan voters. A looming question in the state’s pivotal Senate race is whether he can keep the old one intact — particularly with the Black voters who are pivotal to any Democratic victory.
The Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers, has spent months working to make inroads with traditional Democratic constituencies that did not support El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, in his bitter primary battle against Rep. Haley Stevens.
And even though more than $280 million has been spent on television advertisements in Michigan since the 2026 midterm election cycle began, with billboards and campaign yard signs dotting the landscape alongside the fall colors, some political leaders wonder whether there is sufficient enthusiasm among Black voters for El-Sayed at this late stage.
“It only takes this much of Detroit to defect. It only takes this much of Flint to defect,” said the Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, holding his fingers about an inch apart to drive home his point. “If even a sliver of people don’t turn out, you run into a huge challenge in trying to get your candidate over that line.”
Michigan is crucial to Democrats’ hopes of the net four-seat gain the party needs on November 3 to win control of the Senate. If the party fails to retain the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, its path to a majority would grow much more difficult — and would run almost exclusively through much redder states than this upper Midwestern perpetual political battleground.
El-Sayed defeated Stevens in the August primary by just 1 percentage point — a narrow victory fueled by his strong support among Arab American and Muslim communities, young voters and progressives in college towns.
But Stevens had clear strengths, too: Black voters in and around Detroit largely aligned behind her, as did Jewish voters who have long expressed deep concerns with El-Sayed, who is Muslim and a strident critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Rogers has made reaching those constituencies a central focus of his campaign in the race’s closing weeks, as he looks to assemble a coalition of voters more favorable to Republicans than in 2018, the last midterm election with President Donald Trump in office. That year, Democrats won four statewide races in Michigan, all by a range of about 7 to 9 percentage points.
At a Detroit Economic Club forum on Tuesday, Rogers bragged that he has “built coalitions that really are very untraditional for a Republican candidate.”
He pointed to plans to incentivize new home construction in Detroit, connect those construction efforts to high school apprenticeships, and eliminate “food deserts” in the city. He also said many Democrats have told him they fear the rising influence of democratic socialists within the party.
“We’ve spent a lot of time here in Detroit, Flint, Pontiac,” he said, listing cities with large Black populations. “I think if we’re going to get our state right, we have to have everybody included in its forward progress.”
In a bid to ease lingering Democratic doubts about El-Sayed, former President Barack Obama is set to visit Michigan, where he’ll attend a Saturday rally in Detroit with El-Sayed and the party’s nominee for governor, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Other prominent Black Democrats have visited Michigan in recent weeks, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who held a roundtable focused on Black maternal healthcare with El-Sayed. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia is also set to campaign with El-Sayed, as are several members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“As much as he thinks he’s making inroads, folks are smart,” El-Sayed told CNN. “Mike Rogers is simply a rubber stamp on what Donald Trump wants. They understand exactly who Mike Rogers is.”
While conversations with Black leaders and voters across Detroit show widespread support for El-Sayed, quiet concerns emerged about whether questions pertaining to the nominee’s background could dampen support. Historic tensions between Arab American and Black communities also were raised as points of anxiety.
“In a close race, even a sliver of doubt about Abdul could lead to defeat,” one prominent Black leader told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss concerns frankly. “And this race feels far closer than it should.”
Even as prominent Black Democratic leaders in Michigan express concern about the Senate race, El-Sayed — who spent recent days campaigning in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a sparsely populated region where he hopes his populist pitch will chip away at the GOP’s traditionally strong margins — is downplaying and even mocking Rogers’ efforts to win over Black voters.
At a campaign stop in Flint, a majority-Black city, a few hundred supporters turned out for an El-Sayed rally on Sunday afternoon. Only about a dozen members of the audience who packed into a large hotel conference room were Black, which was striking for a Democratic campaign event two weeks before the election.
As he spoke to reporters afterward, El-Sayed said he saw no reason for concern.
“Look, one of the hardest things about this economy is that too often folks are having to work multiple jobs and having to work on weekends,” he told CNN. “We know because of exactly the policies architected by folks like Donald Trump, that falls hardest on Black folks.”
He was joined at the rally by Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, one of several Black members of Congress who have traveled to campaign alongside him.
“We feel really strong about the relationship we’ve built and will continue to build,” El-Sayed said of his outreach to Black voters.
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.
“I love that he’s running,” Turner said. “I think people are looking past his religion and seeing him as a man who wants what we want for our children and grandchildren.”
Naura Evans, a teacher and mother of two from Sterling Heights, is a proud Black Republican. She appears in a television commercial, saying: “I voted for Barack Obama, but this year, I’m voting for Mike Rogers.”
She said she grew up in a Democratic family but has become more conservative since her 2008 vote for Obama. She said she thinks schools and neighborhoods haven’t improved under Democratic rule and believes in Rogers’ plans for both.
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.”
She dismissed one of the biggest pieces of criticism she hears from Democrats about Rogers — that he would be a rubber stamp for Trump.
“This is not a presidential election, it’s a senator’s election, and ultimately Mike Rogers will be the one making his own decisions,” Evans said. “I’m sure that his decisions will not be influenced by someone else.”
Quentin Murray listened to the full slate of Democratic candidates speaking at a carpenters’ union hall on Sunday in Detroit. He said he was just beginning to learn more about El-Sayed’s candidacy but liked what he heard.
“I like what he’s bringing to the table — something new, something different,” said Murray, a carpenter. “His culture is different, but when you see somebody like that, it’s good to know that we have the same interests and values.”
Yet even in his praise, Murray casually brought up El-Sayed’s culture, which has been at the center of the campaign in bitter attack ads about his upbringing and beliefs.
El-Sayed, a doctor and former public health official whose parents immigrated to the US from Egypt, was born and raised in Michigan.
At nearly every campaign stop, he briefly explains his family history and pushes back at some of the racially charged conversations about his name, which has been regularly belittled by Trump, who has taken to calling him “Mohammed Abdul El-Sayed.”
Rogers has attempted to connect El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood — which El-Sayed has denounced — and cast him as sympathetic to interests connected to Islamic terror. The GOP has pointed to old tweets from his sister describing El-Sayed’s birth mother’s activism with the Muslim Brotherhood while she was in college in the early 1970s. In a recent debate, Rogers also pointed out that El-Sayed’s mother worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, a nonprofit that the Treasury Department in 2004 designated as an organization supporting terrorism. El-Sayed was primarily raised by his father and stepmother in Michigan.
“My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas. My name and my faith are not the reason you cannot afford your groceries,” El-Sayed told supporters in Flint. “My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t see a doctor. I mean chances are if you’re seeing a doctor, they might actually have my name and my faith.”
Charity Dean, who owns a Detroit coffee shop and is president of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, said she has been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm for El-Sayed in her city.
“Detroit is more conservative than folks would think — a lot more moderate,” Dean said. “I think his campaign has done a phenomenal job of really busting out of the box and saying, ‘Are you happy with how things are now? Are you happy with forever wars?’”
Since finishing a distant second in Detroit in the August primary, Dean said, El-Sayed has listened to voters — supportive and skeptical ones alike — and has worked to build a campaign to win them over.
“One of the things that’s gained him a lot of ground is his ability to respond to criticism and questions,” Dean said.
While Dean said she has seen many signs that Rogers is trying to expand his outreach to Black voters, including television ads and opening an office in Detroit, she questioned whether the Republican nominee’s policies followed suit with the actions of his campaign.
“Everything should be taken seriously. This is not a year where we take anything for granted,” Dean said, noting that she is carefully watching what the Rogers campaign is doing. “He seriously wants to win their vote, but he doesn’t want to make life better for Black people. That’s what really matters.”
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