When I heard that there was going to be a political rally in GR with 3 of my favorite politicians, I knew I wanted to go. The rally is to support Democrat Abdul El-Sayed for US Senate over the AIPAC-funded Democrat for the August 4 primary. AIPAC has spent over $50 million dollars backing the other Dem and Republican candidates. Abdul takes ZERO PAC dollars. The Corporate Democrats and the Republicans are terrified he will win. As a Medical Doctor and with his years as the Director of Public Health in Detroit, his biggest platforms are healthcare for all, a clean environment, to get us the hell out of war in Iran, to end support for the genocide going on in Gaza, as well as to de-fund the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. That our money can be better spent on children for reading glasses, improved education, food/ clothing/ shelter/healthcare, forgiving medical debt (which can be done for 1 penny for each dollar of debt.) He is also a huge union supporter.

Older son drove, and one of my former co-workers and now friend went with us. The doors to the DeVos Performance Hall — where they have all of orchestra, theater, smaller concerts, and where I saw Loreena McKennitt a few years ago — opened at 4:30pm. We left Muskegon around 3:30 and got there right around 4:30. Parking was a breeze via indoor structure just across the street. There was already a long line waiting. Thankfully there was an overhang for shade and it wasn’t blazing hot yesterday.

Once the doors opened the lines moved quickly, as they had a lot of helpers for a streamlined process. The DeVos Performance Hall holds 2,345. It was more than half full by the time we sat down, and we were lucky (except for potty breaks!) to be right in the center.

They were playing good songs while we waiting for the live music to start at 6. (Can you hear what’s playing in the video, Jim?) Not sure at what point it was, but all of the people on stage were given signs and several rows of people in front were also. The energy was high and very positive. We all were excited to see some of the people most of us have only seen online. Some part of me wanted to know they were real.

The live music began at 6 and continued until almost 7. The band, Mexicuba, has members from Cuba, Mexico, and other places. They are EXTREMELY talented and I hope to be able to see them again. I found this video of them from The 2025 Hispanic Festival in GR.

We learned that over 200 people had to go to a different part of the complex to watch the rally on screens. The speakers started at 7 and ended at almost 9. I was truly heartened by the whole experience, to know there are so many others that are tired of being ruled by billionaires and corporations. I hope you can take a little time to watch some of the rally, which was livestreamed and recorded. There are local politicians speaking first, then the Big 3.

UPDATE:
Son found a couple of pics out there in the ether. One is better than the other, but see if you can find me in the crowd of at least one of them.

Michael Moore endorses Dr. El-Sayed:

https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelmoore/p/why-im-asking-all-fellow-michiganders?r=r431c&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer