Meet U.S. Senate Candidate
Abdul El-Sayed
Michigan
Open Seat
Why This Race Matters
Democratic efforts to regain the US Senate begin with holding current seats. The one currently held by retiring Senator Gary Peters is the most vulnerable. Republicans see Michigan as their best opportunity to flip a seat this cycle and are poised to invest heavily in supporting their candidate, former US Representative Mike Rogers.
A loss in Michigan would extremely narrow Democratic hopes of re-gaining a Senate majority and would likely require Democrats to sweep all the open seats - North Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Alaska, New Hampshire - and beat Republican incumbents in Maine and Ohio.
A swing state in recent presidential elections, Michigan is a competitive political environment. It is currently represented by two Democratic US Senators and Democrats hold every statewide office including governor. Republicans have a 7-6 advantage in the state’s House delegation. Democrats have a slim majority in the Michigan Senate and Republicans hold a similar majority in the state House of Representatives.
Following the conclusion of the intensely competitive and sometimes contentious recent Michigan Democratic primary, this Senate race is currently rated Toss-up by Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball. Neither El-Sayed nor Rogers has an advantage at this point.
Hear directly from Abdul El-Sayed in this short video:
Background + Experience
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is a Michigan native. He graduated from the University of Michigan with the highest distinction and played on the Wolverine lacrosse team. He earned his MD degree from Columbia University on a National Institutes of Health-funded fellowship and a second doctorate (in Public Health in 2011) from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
El-Sayed’s professional career gravitated to the field of public health. He led Detroit's Health Department after bankruptcy and restructured the Wayne County, MI Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services. As a physician and epidemiologist, Dr. El-Sayed is recognized as an expert working to bring high quality, affordable healthcare to all in America. In 2020, he was selected to serve on President Biden’s Unity Task Force for Healthcare helping to craft policies to reduce consumers’ prescription drug prices.
El-Sayed is a card-carrying member of the American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union, the National Writers Union, and the American Association of University Professors. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Sarah and two daughters.
On The Issues
El-Sayed is a populist and a progressive who has refused to accept PAC money for his campaign. His positions have energized a legion of grassroots campaign volunteers who helped offset the substantial funding deficit he faced in his successful primary run. El-Sayed views banning corporate money in politics as foundational to his campaign and his commitment to work in the Senate. Despite criticisms to the contrary, he views himself as a capitalist and believes in free enterprise.
Examples of other priority issues detailed on his campaign website include:
- Ending partisan gerrymandering
- Supreme Court reform
- Abolishing the filibuster
- Civil rights and liberties for all Americans with no one above the law.
- Comprehensive Immigration reform and abolition of ICE
- Protecting the environment - addressing corporate polluters and climate change
- Access to clean water for all
- Sensible foreign policy based on international cooperation
- Medicare for all
- Putting more money in your pocket
“We took on a machine. You are not supposed to beat $70 million of outside spending — a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign — you are not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.”
Primary victory speech, , 8/5/26
“To my Jewish/American brothers and sisters, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety - to Jewish safety – is the same commitment I have to the safety of my own daughters.”
Instagram, 8/5/26
“I know this has been a long, brutal primary, but what is most important now is that we recognize that for all the differences we may have had in this primary, that those differences pale in comparison to the contrast that we face in November.”