DETROIT – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is pulling out all the stops for Abdul el Sayed as Michigan’s Senate race becomes another referendum on his progressive brand of politics.

Sanders, the octogenarian socialist who has played kingmaker in a series of Democratic primaries this cycle, has lent his name and full-throated endorsement to el Sayed, cutting a commercial for him earlier this month and headlining a trio of rallies – the first of which began in Detroit on Saturday night.