Former United States Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Detroit on Tuesday alongside Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, in an appearance meant to unite a divided party in the swing state of Michigan with about six weeks left before the November midterm elections.

The two held a roundtable on Black maternal health at Birth Detroit, a community birth centre on the city’s west side, where doctors and advocates spoke about access to care before, during and after pregnancy.

Harris, who made maternal health a priority during her time in the White House, told the gathering that her years as a senator gave her a right to speak on the issue, and said she was backing El-Sayed because she believes he will champion it. She also predicted that the physician and former Detroit health director will become a national voice in the Democratic Party.

El-Sayed said he wanted the visit to help consolidate support across the state, adding that his campaign is building an electoral coalition.

The stop was also aimed squarely at Wayne County, Michigan’s largest Democratic stronghold and home to Detroit’s predominantly Black electorate, which El-Sayed did not win in the August primary.

That primary, a bruising contest against four term congresswoman Haley Stevens, exposed deep rifts among Democrats. Stevens enjoyed heavy backing from the party establishment and pro Israel political action committees, while El-Sayed ran as a progressive. Analysts say he also faces pressure among white Jewish voters who have traditionally supported Democrats.

Harris herself arrives in Michigan with a complicated history. She lost the state to Donald Trump in 2024, a defeat many observers linked in part to the anger of Arab American voters, who had long backed Democrats but abandoned the party over the Biden administration’s stance on Israel and the war in Gaza.

El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, dismissed the visit as a sign of weakness. In a statement, he said desperate times call for desperate measures and accused El-Sayed of bringing Harris in to rescue a struggling campaign. Rogers also pointed to El-Sayed’s earlier involvement in the 2024 Uncommitted movement, which protested Harris’s campaign, and blamed her for inflation during her time in office.

The two men are competing for the seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Gary Peters, a race seen as important to whether Democrats can win back a Senate majority in November.