The farmers market in Detroit is an unlikely crucible. Certainly Abdul El-Sayed, the freshly (and narrowly) minted Democratic Senate candidate for Michigan, was not expecting it to be one when he went glad-handing in Eastern Market in the hours before the polls closed. But it was clear that the buyers and sellers of fresh fruit and vegetables that he encountered had quietly put him and his policies on the scales and found them both to be a little lightweight. Not that they’d be rude enough to say so to his face. Of course, El-Sayed would go on to win the primary. But his predicted margin of victory – up to 20 points – evaporated as the night turned into a scrappy contest with his rival Haley Stevens, who represented the more mainstream wing of the party.
I encountered him by pure chance at the market soon after I arrived in the city, looking to take the temperature of the electorate. Suddenly there he was, the man from the newspaper stories and social media. Smiling, surrounded by journalists – in his element. We got off to a good start, I thought. He told me that his best friend lives in Burnt Oak, a London suburb not far from my house there. He mentioned that he’d attended Oxford University and I remembered he had been captain of the lacrosse team there. He told me a little about the origin of the game, almost unknown in the UK outside private girls’ schools, and I lightly ribbed him about how easy it must be for an American who had grown up with the sport to win a blue in this way.
