On Aug. 23, 2025, United States Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour to Kalamazoo, MI, alongside US Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed at Miller Auditorium.
Since beginning the tour in February, Sanders has held events throughout the country. His focus has been specifically on rural conservative areas to push the fight against the Trump administration. Sanders and El Sayed emphasized their conviction for pushback against the rapid increase of corporate influence in politics, as well as the Trump administration’s effect on income and wealth inequality.
Following music by Rodeo Boys, a rock and roll band from Lansing, MI, Vice President of the OPEIU Local 40 RN Unit Danielle Drouillard took the stage to discuss healthcare in the U.S., advocating for Medicare for all.
Then, Ryan Bennett, President of the West Michigan Building Trades Council, spoke, advocating for working-class solidarity and the importance of unions.
El Sayed then began his speech, emphasizing an anti-corporate and middle-class-focused stance as a Senate candidate. He further emphasized how Medicare would make healthcare more accessible and prevent millions of lower and middle-class Americans from going into medical debt.
“I want to heal our broken system,” said El Sayed. “No family should have to go bankrupt over medical debt, medical debt shouldn’t exist.”
He continued by explaining some of the goals he’s already reached as a politician, including his efforts to keep lead out of water in schools throughout Michigan, as well as making Narcan more accessible and helping people with insurance. He repeatedly emphasized three key goals for his campaign, having the crowd repeat them back to him during his speech: “Keep money out of politics, more money in your pockets, and Medicare for all.”
One of the biggest focuses of El Sayed’s message was the importance of addressing young people and the issues they care about.
“You look at this audience, you look at the audiences for most politicians, and there are a lot more people around the age of 40, but everywhere I go, I see folks under the age of 40,” said El Sayed. “A lot of democrats over the age of 60 are like, ‘How’d you do that new trick? You got young people to show up.’ It’s because we’re talking about the issues that young people care about. We’re talking about the issues they see themselves in, we’re naming and identifying what it is they want out of our politics.”
University of Michigan junior and president of the Michigan College Democrats, Stella Camerlengo, was one of many young people in the crowd at the event. She believes young people are the best hope for the future of the Democratic party.
“I am here because I believe in a future worth fighting for,” said Camerlengo. “As young people, a lot of us feel very disenfranchised by the Democratic Party, and I think that Bernie Sanders has done an excellent job in fighting back against this authoritarian regime that we’re seeing out of D.C.”
A major part of El Sayed’s campaign is his goals in education. He aims to increase funding and believes education should be tailored to children’s unique needs. He acknowledged that, as well as improving the education system, we should focus on improving the pathway for people after school.
“I think that the question of the pathway that you can take after school is really important,” said El Sayed. “A lot of young folks are saying, ‘This whole career ladder looks like it’s falling apart. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to own a home, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to afford a job that has health care, but I don’t want to be stuck for the rest of my life in my parents’ basement. What does the future look like for me?’ And we’re talking specifically about those challenges.”
El Sayed went on to explain that Democrats need to approach politics differently to engage young people.
“You [young adults] were born into a financial crisis, you were born into a series of wars that we were still fighting from before you were even born. And then Donald Trump, when you were like seven years old, came down that ugly escalator.” said El Sayed. “Politics has always been this for you. So this idea that we can just go back to this sort of old system or that we can’t pay attention to the challenges that you all are facing, that’s just not true to your experience.”
Another topic that both Sanders and El Sayed touched on was the use of American money for foreign conflicts.
“One of the biggest points of applause was when I talked about the fact that maybe while our kids’ schools are crumbling, we shouldn’t be sending bombs or money to buy bombs abroad, maybe we could be spending our money here,” said El Sayed. “Blank checks to foreign militaries are not what people want. And I think the party leadership has been slow to get there and is still pulling its punch on the fact that we are subsidizing a genocide in Gaza.”
Bernie Sanders then opened his portion of the evening by personally endorsing Abdul El-Sayed for Senate, affirming their shared belief in the need for leaders who oppose the growing corporate greed in America.
Sanders highlighted the troubling concentration of wealth in the United States, noting that the top 1% of earners now control more wealth than the bottom 93% combined.
“We must discuss what the establishment doesn’t want to discuss,” said Sanders. “Today, the people on top have never had it so good.”
A central theme of Sanders’s speech was the growing financial difficulty many Americans face in a country that is supposed to be the richest in the world. He pointed to rising costs in several essential sectors, including childcare, K-12 education and higher education, all of which have become increasingly unaffordable for working families.
He also discussed how housing costs consume half of the average middle-class income. Adding to his concerns, Sanders warned that if President Donald Trump’s policies continue to shape the nation, an estimated 15 million Americans could lose their healthcare.
He emphasized that if we invested in the needs of everyday Americans instead of the interests of the wealthiest 1%, an affordable America would be possible.
Both Sanders and El-Sayed share a vision for a more equitable future, where the well-being of the American people is prioritized over the profits of the wealthiest elites. This vision, they emphasized, is essential for a more just and sustainable future for the country.
