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'We're united' Abdul El-Sayed details 'warm' meeting with Leader Schumer · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The only way to reach out to voters is to
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  Speaker 1: reach out to voters.
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  Speaker 2: And unlike a lot of politicians who start talking about
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  Speaker 2: themselves when they start running for office, I've been in
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  Speaker 2: and around the community doing the work. I rebuilt Detroit's
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  Speaker 2: health department after it had been shuttered. I led Wayne
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  Speaker 2: County's Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services. We put
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  Speaker 2: glasses on tens of thousands of kids, eliminated up to
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  Speaker 2: $ 700 million of medical debt. We took on the lead crisis,
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  Speaker 2: having every school, daycare, and Head Start tested for lead
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  Speaker 2: in the water. We put Narcan in vending machines for free.
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  Speaker 2: And look, I took 70 million dollars spending against me
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  Speaker 2: from outside funds in the primary. And that spending was
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  Speaker 2: engineered specifically to break my relationship with the black community.
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  Speaker 1: And so we've been rebuilding it.
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  Speaker 2: And in in poll after poll, it's showing that black
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  Speaker 2: voters are engaging with us, seeing what we have to offer.
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  Speaker 2: And they're excited by a couple of things. A, we
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  Speaker 2: just pushed out our thrive agenda, what it means to
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  Speaker 2: build democracy. opportunity for black folks in local communities by
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  Speaker 2: addressing the funding gap when it comes to public schools,
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  Speaker 2: the funding gap when it comes to entrepreneurship opportunities, and
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  Speaker 2: to pass Medicare for All to guarantee everybody equal health
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  Speaker 2: care access in communities that have been affected by the
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  Speaker 2: failures of our health care system. But we keep having
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  Speaker 2: the conversation, you can never do it enough, because we
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  Speaker 2: spend a lot of time, whether it's in churches or
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  Speaker 2: in senior homes, in block clubs, talking about what the
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  Speaker 2: contrast is. You've got a guy who's a doctor who
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  Speaker 2: rebuilt the health department in the city of Detroit, and
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  Speaker 2: you've got a guy who helped to engineer the state
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  Speaker 2: takeover of our public school system when he was in
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  Speaker 2: the state legislature.
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  Speaker 3: I have one follow-up because it's my understanding that I
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  Speaker 3: know Vice President Harris is coming to campaign with you
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  Speaker 3: in Michigan. I think I read an AP article about
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  Speaker 3: that right before the show started. And it's my understanding
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  Speaker 3: that Black leaders in Michigan, in addition to you, asked
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  Speaker 3: her to come. And so to me, that says that
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  Speaker 3: there is a concern about enthusiasm and turnout. So I
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  Speaker 3: hear your policy points.
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  Speaker 1: What about the politics? Well, I'll tell you this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when you look at the whole outcome of
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  Speaker 2: the primary, we did get outspent $ 70 million to five,
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  Speaker 2: 11 to one. And even despite that, right, we took
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  Speaker 2: 40 percent of the Black vote. And when you look
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  Speaker 2: at the Black voters who voted for us, they tended
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  Speaker 2: to be Black voters who who are more likely to
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  Speaker 2: stay home in other elections, younger black voters. And so
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  Speaker 2: I actually feel we are in a really, really strong
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  Speaker 2: position to have overwhelming turnout because we're reaching out, even
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  Speaker 2: in the primary, to voters in the black community who
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  Speaker 2: are the least likely to turn out because they were
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  Speaker 2: enthused by our message to get money out of politics,
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  Speaker 2: put money in their pocket, pass Medicare for all.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you this. The contrast could not be
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  Speaker 1: more clear.
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  Speaker 2: Our job, any campaign's job, is to build the kind
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  Speaker 2: of momentum that turns into a crest and a wave
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  Speaker 2: on Election Day.
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  Speaker 1: We're doing exactly that. And we're in a very, very
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  Speaker 1: strong position.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, poll after poll shows us outpacing the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the ticket in the black community.
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  Speaker 4: Typically, you're in Michigan, you're in Washington, D.C. You have
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  Speaker 4: some meetings today on the Hill, one with the folks
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  Speaker 4: who would be your colleagues, Democrats, Gary Peters and Alyssa Slotkin.
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  Speaker 4: had been talking to them and saying, like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: because these people are moderate, so they're like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: this progressive man, let him talk to you, give him
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  Speaker 4: a chance. Did you— tell us a little bit more about
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  Speaker 4: that meeting. There's been some reporting. But also, did you
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  Speaker 4: meet with Chuck Schumer, the person who is currently the
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  Speaker 4: leader of Senate Democrats?
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  Speaker 2: Great meetings with both Senate Minority Leader Schumer and a
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  Speaker 2: number of folks who I hope will be my colleagues
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  Speaker 2: starting in January. Really, really warm conversations about how excited
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  Speaker 2: we are to be able to take back the majority.
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  Speaker 2: I talked to a lot of folks who will be
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  Speaker 2: the chairs of key committees and the importance of making
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  Speaker 2: sure that they're holding gavels instead of instead of, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: Republicans who want to put those gavels down because they're
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  Speaker 2: not interested in legislating. And I know that we are
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  Speaker 2: a big party with a lot of different perspectives. And
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  Speaker 2: I also know that the things that bring us together
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  Speaker 2: are so much bigger than any of the disagreements that
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  Speaker 2: we have. And I, you know, I played team sports
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  Speaker 2: my whole life. I know that joining the Senate is
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  Speaker 2: joining part of a team. I've got my perspectives and
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to sharing those perspectives with colleagues and
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  Speaker 2: learning on theirs. A lot of these folks, all of
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  Speaker 2: them have more experience doing this than me. I'm looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to the mentorship that I can gain, but also
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to taking what I've learned on the campaign
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  Speaker 2: trail in what has been an arduous primary and a
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  Speaker 2: general election. around what I'm hearing from Michigan voters who
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  Speaker 2: really are a microcosm of the country.
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  Speaker 4: How did the meeting with Schumer go? You've said over
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  Speaker 4: and over that you're not going to vote for him
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  Speaker 4: for leader. That could make it a little awkward. How
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  Speaker 4: did that conversation go?
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  Speaker 2: Well, right now we're united in the fact that we
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  Speaker 2: have to win Michigan. And, you know, whatever our differences,
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  Speaker 2: our agreement on the importance of winning Michigan to take
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  Speaker 2: back the Senate majority, that's overwhelming. We had a warm meeting,
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  Speaker 2: a good conversation yesterday. And I know that we left
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  Speaker 2: that conversation committed to doing what we need to do
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  Speaker 2: to take on Trump and Trumpism. Mike Rogers, who has
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  Speaker 2: no business on the inside of the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Senate. Look, again, the contrast could not be more clear.
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  Speaker 2: This is a guy who spent 14 years in Congress,
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  Speaker 2: took a million dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, voted 19
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  Speaker 2: times to keep prescription drug prices high. I'm a doctor
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  Speaker 2: who put Narcan in vending machines for free and eliminated
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  Speaker 2: medical debt.
• 5:02
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