Amid a slew of hotly contested primaries across the Wolverine State, Michiganders can’t seem to escape former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama on their television screens.
Outside groups backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-11) in the Senate race, including the AIPAC-aligned United Democracy Project and A Stronger Michigan, have spent $19.4 million on TV ads featuring the popular Obamas, according to AdImpact as of Thursday.
Roughly $29 million has been spent by Democrats and their allies on broadcast ads mentioning the Obamas across the country this cycle.
Yet neither Obama has endorsed in the Senate primary, spurring confusion among some Democratic voters ahead of the Aug. 4 showdown between Stevens and 2018 GOV candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D).
“My neighbors certainly know Haley Stevens because when they turn on their TV, she's in their living room with Obama,” said Sam Robinson, the founder of Detroit one million and a writer for The Michigan Chronicle.
One UDP ad features a clip of the former president during a 2018 campaign rally praising Stevens’ work on his auto rescue task force, adding she “was a critical part of my team that helped the American auto industry come roaring back.” Another UDP ad accuses El-Sayed of having “a long history of disrespecting women,” citing a 2010 Guardian op-ed the epidemiologist wrote that describes Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move On” campaign as “commendable, if ineffectual.”
“I'm going to see the Haley Stevens ads with [Barack] Obama in them when I step into this barber shop because the TV is going to be on Fox 2,” Robinson told Hotline on his way to a haircut. “And those commercials are absolutely effective. They are what's powering Haley Stevens' campaign.”
Robinson described Barack Obama as “the most popular political figure perhaps in the history of the city of Detroit,” where his likeness can be found in living rooms, beauty stores, and on murals. Detroit—where 75% of residents are Black—is essential to Stevens’ path toward the Democratic nomination, especially as El-Sayed’s younger, energized base is focused outside the Motor City’s boundaries in Western and Mid Michigan.
“It seems like Abdul has the on-the-ground advantage, but I also feel the AIPAC spending every day,” Robinson said. “You have a campaign that's being powered by volunteer door knockers and young college Democrats, and then you have a campaign being powered by television ads, mailers. Quite contrasting styles of campaigning.”
The pro-Stevens spots aren’t the only campaign ads in Michigan that feature the 44th president. In MI-07, former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink (D) and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam (D) are competing over their ties to Obama as both attempt to block activist William Lawrence (D) in their quest to take on Rep. Tom Barrett (R).
Maasdam and VoteVets have collectively spent $1.5 million on spots highlighting his role as a White House military aide carrying the nuclear codes for Obama while Brink has reserved $354,000 on ads boasting her service on Obama’s National Security Council. The Congressional Black Caucus-aligned Rolling Sea Action Fund launched a $900,000 ad buy blasting Lawrence for describing Obama’s legacy in a since-deleted 2021 tweet as one of “cowardice and betrayal.”
While progressives like El-Sayed and Lawrence are focusing their attention on building their ground game, centrist candidates like Brink, Maasdam, and Stevens are relying on their ties to a respected Obama to boost their credibility among the party’s high-propensity voters.
— Nicholas Anastácio
