Michigan-born Abdul El-Sayed is running for the U.S. Senate with a bold message: to fix America’s broken politics. If he wins, he will become the country’s first Muslim senator — a historic moment for Arab and Muslim representation in Washington.
The promo video introducing his campaign could be mistaken for an old Hollywood reel. It opens with nostalgic 1950s scenes as a narrator, in an exaggerated American accent, praises the “all-American story” of a boy from southeast Michigan. A high school football player who loved his Camaro, earned a medical scholarship, and chose public service.
Then comes the twist. The upbeat soundtrack fades, and the name is revealed: Abdul El-Sayed.
“I know, I know — it’s a name built for American politics,” he says with a smile.
At 40, El-Sayed is no stranger to public life. A physician, public health leader, and progressive Democrat, he has long argued that America’s political system is sick — and that it’s time to “cure the disease.”
Identity, Islamophobia, and Political Asset
Speaking to The National in Ypsilanti, a college town outside Detroit, El-Sayed said he is fully aware of the Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment that persist in America. But instead of shying away from it, he leans into his identity.
“I think my name is actually a profound political asset,” he explains. “It makes people think, and it opens the door to conversations.”
Born Abdulrahman — shortened to Abdul in kindergarten — his name carries deep Arab and Muslim resonance. “It’s a name with sounds that come from parts of the throat many Americans don’t even know they have,” he jokes.
Summers spent in Egypt, wandering Alexandria’s markets with his cousins, shaped his worldview. The influence of his grandmother, who raised eight children despite losing two infants, left a lasting mark. “Those were siblings my father lost before he turned five,” El-Sayed recalls. “That shaped my family — and me.”
From Medicine to Politics
Inequalities in health defined El-Sayed’s path. A 15-hour flight from Detroit to Alexandria meant a 10-year drop in life expectancy. A 15-minute drive from wealthy Oakland County to inner-city Detroit showed the same divide.
“That’s when it hit me — medicine and public health are deeply political.”
As Detroit’s health director during the city’s bankruptcy in 2013, he rebuilt the department, launching initiatives to reduce lead exposure, provide free eye care to schoolchildren, and modernize infant mortality tracking.
“For me, medicine has always been about helping people live longer, healthier, more dignified lives,” he says. “But the outcomes are shaped by politics. If you’re serious about fixing health, you have to fix politics.”
‘Curing the Disease’
El-Sayed first ran for office in 2018, seeking Michigan’s governorship with Senator Bernie Sanders’ endorsement. He lost to Gretchen Whitmer but established himself as a progressive voice.
Now, with Trump-aligned Republicans cutting public health budgets and weakening federal agencies, he says Democrats must go beyond “resisting” and take the fight to systemic corruption.
He compares America’s political dysfunction to a “terrible disease” — one fueled by corporate money and billionaire influence.
“I’ve been talking about curing the disease for a really long time,” he says. “It’s about standing up to corporations and oligarchs who dominate the system, forcing us into policies we don’t agree with, and stripping resources from working people.”
His campaign centers on affordability: universal healthcare, affordable housing, clean energy, economic justice, and eliminating medical debt. Notably, he refuses PAC money, calling his effort a campaign “for working people.”
Foreign Policy Stance
El-Sayed is equally outspoken on foreign policy. During President Joe Biden’s tenure, he joined the “uncommitted” movement demanding a Gaza ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.
“Every dollar spent subsidising the bombing of Gaza’s schools and hospitals is a dollar not spent on schools and hospitals here in America,” he argues.
This stance resonates in Michigan, home to the largest Arab American population in the U.S., many of whom abandoned the Democratic Party in 2024 over Biden’s handling of Gaza and Lebanon.
A Purple State Battleground
Michigan has flipped between Democrats and Republicans in recent elections, making it a critical battleground. In Dearborn — America’s Arab capital — more than 42% of voters backed Trump in 2024, a stunning reversal from 2020 when Biden won nearly 69%.
El-Sayed sees this as proof the Democratic Party has failed working-class and minority communities. “The issue isn’t the voters,” he says. “It’s the party elites. If you don’t like what they’re saying, beat them in elections. That’s what I intend to do.”
The race is wide open. With Senator Gary Peters retiring, centrist Democrat Haley Stevens leads narrowly, with El-Sayed close behind. Trump has endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, setting up a fierce fight. The Democratic primary is scheduled for August 4, 2026.
Conversations That Change Minds
On the campaign trail, El-Sayed often meets skeptics. At one town hall, a man told him: “I hated you because you’re Muslim. But you’re the only one talking about the problems I live with every day. I’ll support you.”
El-Sayed calls such encounters powerful. “It might be that because my name is Abdul, you’ll remember that Abdul cared more about your housing, your healthcare, and your food than someone else with a different name.”
100% Arab, 100% American
Raised in a blended family with Arab Muslim and white Christian relatives, El-Sayed often uses his family’s Thanksgiving table as a metaphor: turkey on the table, football on TV, diverse voices debating — yet all part of one family.
“I’m 100% American and 100% Arab,” he says. “Those two things are not mutually exclusive.”
For El-Sayed, curing America’s disease is not just about winning elections. It’s about redefining who politics serves — moving away from elites and corporations, and putting working people back at the center of democracy.
