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Bought Blessing: How Abdul El-Sayed Quietly Paid $75,000 for a Detroit Pastor’s Endorsement

Abdul El-Sayed has been lauding an endorsement from Pastor and Radio host Horace Sheffield III. No one could blame him for that. It's a great endorsement to receive for a candidate running for Senate in Michigan.

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Oh. 

That is interesting. 

Must be nice. 

Influential Detroit pastor and radio host Horace Sheffield III enthusiastically endorsed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed during a radio interview last week, urging listeners to make "5 and 10 phone calls" to help propel the left-wing Democrat to victory. Unmentioned in the glowing interview was that El-Sayed's campaign has paid tens of thousands of dollars to Sheffield's nonprofit organization.

El-Sayed's campaign has paid $75,000 to Ecumenical Ministers Alliance, a nonprofit that Sheffield incorporated in 2010, for "political consulting," according to campaign finance disclosures. The campaign has made 10 payments of $7,500 to the nonprofit from Oct. 21 to June 1, records show.

Sheffield was suspended from his previous radio station in 2018 after he endorsed the failed gubernatorial candidate Rep. Shri Thanedar (D., Mich.), who'd paid his nonprofit tens of thousands of dollars, also for "consulting."

Last week's radio interview is at least the third time Sheffield, the pastor of New Destiny Christian Fellowship, has boosted El-Sayed on his radio show or in social media posts, all without disclosing the financial relationship. The pastor's endorsements are especially helpful to El-Sayed, who badly trails his primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, in support from black voters.

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So, El-Sayed is running far behind Stevens with Black voters so he needed this endorsement and apparently was willing to pay for it. He was actually willing to pay quite a lot for it. 

So, there is a history of this. Apparently, the suspension from his show didn't faze him too much.

Well, yes.