Abdul El-Sayed

A native of Michigan, El-Sayed attended the University of Michigan, where he played on the lacrosse team. After graduation, El-Sayed became a Rhodes Scholar, obtaining a doctorate from Oxford University. El-Sayed then went on to attend Columbia University medical school, earning his medical degree and becoming an assistant professor of epidemiology. After Detroit's declaration of bankruptcy, El-Sayed was hired in 2015 to manage the newly privatized health department. He continued to hold that position until February 2017, when he left to become a full-time candidate for governor. After his unsuccessful bid for governor, El-Sayed served on a number of boards and as a political advisor and contributor. From 2022 to 2025, he was the director and health officer for the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services. As of August 2026, El-Sayed was the Democratic nominee for Michigan's Class II Senate seat.[1][2]

Education

B.S. in biology and political science - University of Michigan (2007)

D.Phil. in public health - University of Oxford (2011)

M.D. - Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (2014)

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Abdul El-Sayed is running for the U.S. Senate because life in Michigan shouldn’t be this hard or expensive. After a career of making government work for Michiganders, he wants to make Washington work for you.

Abdul rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department post-bankruptcy, then restructured Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services to serve 1.8 million residents. He secured free glasses for kids, removed lead from schools, took on corporate polluters, and expanded Narcan access. He also spearheaded a program canceling up to $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 Michiganders. His impact earned him recognition from the Michigan LCV and Crain’s Detroit Business.

A nationwide healthcare expert, Abdul authored Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide. In 2020, he served on President Biden’s Unity Task Force for Healthcare, helping craft policies that are lowering prescription drug prices today.

Born and raised in Southeast Michigan's public schools, he captained his football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams. He was raised by his father, Mohamed, an Egyptian immigrant, and his stepmom, Jackie, whose Michigan roots trace to the 1800s. He graduated from the University of Michigan with highest distinction, earned his MD from Columbia, and a doctorate from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Abdul lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Sarah, and daughters Emmalee and Serene. He is a proud, card-carrying union member of the AFT, SEIU, National Writers Union, and AAUP.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Money Out of Politics. I believe the influence of corporate money in our politics is essentially corrupting. I will fight for legislation to take on the power of corporations to influence our political system. As a US Senator, I will sponsor legislation to ban corporate money from our elections, nominate Justices to the Supreme Court who will overturn Citizens United, and support legislation to bring transparency to lobbying and “dark money” political organizations. I am committed to using Michigan’s voice in the US Senate to hold the government accountable to the people, and I am the only candidate in this race who has never and will never accept corporate contributions.Money in Your Pocket. The affordability crisis has made it too hard for working people to get by. Millions of Americans are drowning in medical debt brought on by our broken healthcare system. In the Senate, I will fight against corporate tax breaks and to enforce antitrust laws, so corporations can’t keep buying each other and price-gouging us. We can create a government that invests in the needs of working people and makes it possible to afford a home, put food on the table, and create a future for their kids. I will fight to ensure every worker has the right to join a union through the PRO act, and earn a fair wage with one good job. And we must tax billionaire wealth to invest in education, healthcare, and infrastructure.Medicare for All. There hasn’t been a Democratic doctor in the US Senate since 1969. We need one. I literally wrote the book on Medicare for All because healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. No one should choose between getting the care they need or going into debt in the richest country in the world. I will sponsor legislation to enact M4A and eliminate medical debt nationwide. M4A guarantees comprehensive coverage, eliminates co-pays and deductibles, and lowers overall costs through reducing administrative waste and negotiating drug prices. Our current system has put over $225 billion in medical debt onto Americans; I already erased it for 300,000 Michiganders in Wayne County and will do it again in the US Senate.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I didn't set out to be a politician; I trained as a doctor, but saw how broken politics were making people sick. Our healthcare system itself is part of the problem. We need Medicare for All. I chose a career in public health to fix the problems that make people sick in the first place–bad air and water, broken schools, and the lack of healthcare. As both Detroit’s and Wayne County’s Health Director, I led efforts to put glasses on kids, take on big polluters, and eliminate medical debt. But there shouldn’t be medical debt to erase in the richest country in the world. Healthcare must be a human right, not a privilege. Enacting Medicare for All would finally address that.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Peace Action, A New Policy PAC, Patriotic Millionaires, Michigan Democratic Party’s LGBT&A Caucus, MDP Progressive Caucus, MDP Grassroots Caucus, No Dem Left Behind, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Make America Affordable Now PAC, Common Defense. Individuals: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Former Congressman Andy Levin, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Mayor Sheldon Neeley of Flint, 9 state reps; 14 other county-level elected officials in Wayne, Kalamazoo, Washtenaw, Isabella and Kent Counties; and 6 Mayors as well as 24+ local electeds across Wayne, Kent, Genesee, Bay, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo, Isabella, St. Joseph, Allegan, and Van Buren counties.

Campaign websiteEl-Sayed's campaign website stated the following:Money Out of PoliticsI believe that corporations and special interests shouldn’t be able to buy elections. Period. That’s why I’m the only candidate running for U.S. Senate in Michigan that has never taken a dime of corporate money–and never will.Banning Corporate Money in PoliticsTo get corporate and special interest money out of politics, I support legislation to overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision. In addition, I support banning outside spending through corporate 501(c)4s, SuperPACs, and 527 groups. I also support public election funding and campaign spending caps.Ending GerrymanderingThe Trump Administration has tried to consolidate power at every turn–including pressuring governors to further gerrymander their states. I believe that congressional districts should be drawn by a federal nonpartisan committee of experts who are appointed for defined terms on a rolling basis and who work alongside the U.S. Census Bureau, similar to the Federal Reserve Board. This would come as close as possible to eliminating the partisan gerrymandering that exists because of apportionment by partisan state governments in most states.Supreme Court ReformI understand that the Supreme Court itself has become a major impediment to democracy. The Roberts court has moved to limit voting rights, civil rights, and reproductive rights while expanding Trump’s power. I support Supreme Court reform, including ending the life-time appointments, imposing limited terms, and allowing the same number of appointments for each presidential term.Abolishing the FilibusterThe filibuster has been used by Senators to shield one another from having to take hard votes. I believe that it is antidemocratic and should be abolished.Making Voting EasierI oppose mandatory Voter ID laws like the “SAVE Act” that impose unnecessary barriers to citizens voting. Instead, I believe in making voting easier. Voters should be automatically registered to vote when they turn eighteen and reregistered automatically when they move. Election days should be holidays. And we need no-reason absentee and early in-person voting. Civil Rights & LibertiesNobody is above our constitution. That’s why I’ll protect the rights of all Americans, regardless of where they live, where their parents came from, how—or if—they pray, their sexual orientation, gender identity, how old they are, or how much money they make. I believe in the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of and from religion, and the freedom of self-expression. I believe that healthcare decisions should always stay between an individual and their doctor. And I believe that the government cannot and should not interfere with the right to pursue healthcare choices. Healthcare data must remain private, and state and federal government should have no right to access your data unless it’s for the purposes of providing you healthcare. And healthcare providers should be protected from undue coercion by the government to provide data or to provide, or not provide, healthcare they deem necessary for their patients.I understand that civil rights are just as important when they protect our rights to do things that others might disagree with. That’s why I believe that the right to speak against your government’s actions and to peacefully protest them are sacrosanct. And I stand against the weaponization of the state to stamp out or intimidate peaceful protest, including the freedom to boycott.ImmigrationPeople don’t come here because they want to take away from America, they come here because they want to build in America – that is what America has always been about. We must replace our broken and unpredictable immigration policy with a clear, comprehensive, and fair system. That begins with Abolishing ICE. ICE has become a tool for autocracy. Its culture of aggression, impunity, and disregard for the rule of law cannot be reformed or retrained. It must be abolished. I believe in a safe, secure border and immigration enforcement–but under a new organizational structure that puts basic human dignity and deference to the rule of law first. And I believe that ICE funds should be repurposed to build out the legal infrastructure of courts to create a clear pathway to citizenship for those who are stuck in limbo in our current system.Environment and Natural ResourcesMichigan’s air, water, and land have been treated as a free dumping ground by corporations for too long. I’ve spent my career as a public health official in Detroit and Wayne County fighting back: confronting childhood lead poisoning, and standing between polluters and the communities they poison. I didn’t hesitate then, and won’t hesitate in the US Senate.As senator, I’ll fight to hold corporate polluters fully accountable for contaminating Michigan’s land, air, and water and to empower federal agencies to stop them before they cause harm in the first place. That means codifying the Endangerment Finding into law, so no future administration can strip the EPA of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases by executive order. It means strengthening air quality standards to account for the cumulative impact of multiple pollutants on vulnerable communities. After all, a child in Detroit breathing diesel exhaust, industrial particulates, and ozone simultaneously deserves a regulatory framework that reflects that reality. It means strengthening NEPA so that communities have a meaningful voice before fossil fuel projects are permitted in their backyards, not after the damage is done. And it means making environmental justice an explicit mandate, not an afterthought, of every federal agency with authority over our air and water.The Great Lakes are Michigan’s crown jewel and keeping them safe and clean is a solemn responsibility for the world. We account for 21% of the planet’s fresh surface water, and an irreplaceable resource for our communities, our economy, and our tribes. No corporation’s profit margin is worth risking them. I support shutting down Line 5, which is putting our Great Lakes at risk and has the potential to destroy sensitive environmental and tribal sites. In the meantime, we need to make the line safer so long as proper care is taken not to disrupt the line itself or destroy sensitive environmental or tribal sites. The climate crisis is not a future threat. It’s here in the forms of historic storms battering Michigan farms, flooding that overwhelms Wayne County neighborhoods, and severe weather that has become the new normal across our state. Oil and gas dependence doesn’t just poison our air, it finances foreign entanglements and enriches the same corporations that have spent decades lying to us about what they knew. Michigan deserves better. That’s why I’ll fight for a pathway to 100% renewable energy. We will anchor it in massive investment in solar, wind, and battery storage, a modernized smart grid, and the energy efficiency upgrades that put money back in families’ pockets. Every step of that transition must be built on good union jobs because solving the climate crisis, rebuilding the American middle class, and providing reliable, affordable power are not competing goals–they are the same goal. I understand that we must remain open to emerging climate solutions as they develop, assessing them on safety, reliability, and community support.WaterFrom the Flint water crisis to Detroit water shutoffs to PFAS contamination poisoning communities from Oscoda to Parchment, we have failed the people who depend on clean water most. I’ll fight for a federal water guarantee that every family has access to at least 50 gallons of clean water per person per day (the basic minimum needed to drink, cook, and bathe) with water bills capped at 2% of household income and ironclad protections against shutoffs for families who can’t afford to pay. I’ll push to accelerate federal infrastructure funding to get every lead pipe out of Michigan’s water systems by 2030 — seven years ahead of the current federal deadline. I’ll hold polluters fully accountable for the PFAS contamination they’ve left behind in our soil, our water, and our bodies and ensure that corporate farms taking federal dollars are held accountable for the agricultural runoff poisoning our rivers, our lakes, and our neighbors’ wells. And I’ll fight for federal funding to invest in modernizing our aging drainage and purification systems. I support shutting down Line 5, which is putting our Great Lakes at risk and has the potential to destroy sensitive environmental and tribal sites. In the meantime, we need to make the line safer so long as proper care is taken not to disrupt the line itself or destroy sensitive environmental or tribal sites. Sensible Foreign PolicyAfter the devastation of World War II, our country led the international community to build organizations that would protect civilians from the disasters of war. We should lead the world to protect democracy, prosperity, and peace. We ensure security at home and abroad by standing with our democratic allies and engaging in a foreign policy that centers diplomacy, cooperation, and human rights. When we act in the interest of human rights and democracy–as in supporting Ukraine against Russian invasion–we find ourselves on the right side of justice. It’s when we break the rules we worked so hard to set up–as in Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, or Palestine–that we make critical, deadly mistakes.I oppose the illegal and unjustifiable war in Iran and demand an immediate end to the hostilities. While I oppose a nuclear-armed Iran, I understand that diplomatic means of achieving that goal are more effective and come with a far lower human cost, just as President Obama had achieved under the JCPOA. I oppose the warlike pathway that the foreign policy establishment has pursued with China. Our competition with China is not fated toward kinetic war. Where we compete, it should be with our research, development, and economic power, building solutions to the problems of the future. While we must insist that China play by the rules when it comes to trade and intellectual property, we must also recognize that our shared futures are better when we cooperate with each other for the benefit of all of our people, rather than compete in a zero-sum arms race that makes all of us less safe. We have maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” with China on the question of Taiwan for decades. The future of Taiwan should be a matter for the Taiwanese to choose through democratic means. But in recognition of the possible risks, we must continue to onshore critical national security assets, such as chip manufacturing. I believe that in an era where our schools are crumbling and healthcare is unaffordable, we should be spending our taxpayer dollars here at home. That’s why I oppose direct blank-check funding to foreign militaries–including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others. Right now, our tax dollars and American-made weapons are being used to perpetrate a genocide in Gaza, illegal settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the attempted annexation of Southern Lebanon. That must end. I support immediate and comprehensive enforcement of U.S. laws that condition the provision of military aid and sales. And I support an immediate arms embargo on Israel and reject the false differentiation between “offensive” and “defensive” weapons.As a physician and epidemiologist, I understand that global threats can quickly become local threats. And when we fail to tackle health and humanitarian threats where they present themselves abroad, they can land in our neighborhoods. Helping to diminish deprivation and disease abroad isn’t just charity, it’s important for our own safety and prosperity. That’s why I support immediate re-investment in foreign aid, including to UNRWA.I believe in international cooperation to take on our most dire global threats, such as global pandemics and climate change. And I support America’s meaningful engagement in the World Health Organization, the Conference of Parties, and the Paris Agreement to both address the climate crisis and global health challenges. Money in Your Pocket In the state that built the American Dream, it shouldn’t be this hard to get by. I believe in an economy built by and for working people. I’ll fight against corporate tax breaks and the capture of our economy by billionaires and wanna-be oligarchs. I believe that every worker deserves the right to join a union and to earn a fair wage. And I believe that one good job should pay enough to raise a family. I’ll fight for an economy where anyone can start and grow a business to build wealth for themselves, their family, their co-workers, and their communities. And I believe that every American deserves guaranteed healthcare regardless of what they do for work. I want to abolish medical debt–just like we did for more than 300,000 Michiganders in Wayne County.Jobs and TradeTrade deals, like NAFTA, have been a disaster for American manufacturing and have rotted out our towns and destroyed communities. I believe in bringing dignified, well-paying jobs to Michigan. That means investing in the research, development, and growth of the technologies of the future while using tools like tariffs in a steady, thoughtful, and targeted way to protect them as they grow. I believe that unions must have a significant voice at the tables where decisions about the future of our economy are being made.I believe in holding corporations accountable. And I stand for a muscular Federal Trade Commission that enforces anti-monopoly laws so the corporations can’t price-gouge us. We need laws that would stop Wall Street speculators from wrecking good companies and killing good jobs, force publicly-traded corporations to be accountable to their workers, and protect workers on the job. Research and development are among America’s most important assets. Rather than gut critical research agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and pull back from funding research laboratories in universities across America, I believe that our future requires us to invest more and faster. And I believe that the taxpayers who fund this research should earn back the returns on their investment.My American story began because my father wanted to come to America to build cars. Nobody builds better than we do. But dumb trade agreements negotiated without unions at the table have siphoned away too many manufacturing jobs. Trump’s incoherent, self-serving version of tariffs have only made the problem worse. I support targeted, smart tariffs that would help protect Michigan manufacturing and incubate the industries of the future with unions at the forefront. These tariffs would focus on growth industries, rely on clearly communicated benchmarks with trading partners, and sunset as American manufacturers established themselves. Taxing Billionaire WealthI believe in right-sizing our tax code to take on the outsized power of excess wealth in our economy and democracy. The ultrawealthy should no longer be able to hide behind loopholes that leave them paying lower tax rates than the rest of us. Toward that end, I support taxing capital gains over $1 million at the same rate as ordinary income and closing the stepped-up basis loophole. I also support taxing inheritance greater than $1 million like ordinary income and imposing a progressive tax on wealth held by trusts. I support raising the marginal tax rate on earnings over $1 million and a billionaire tax on wealth over $1 billion. In addition, I support a cost of living exemption on federal taxes up to $50,000. I’ll also fight to close the Social Security payroll tax cap to make sure the rich pay their fair share so that Social Security stays solvent well into the future.Artificial Intelligence Government decisions around world-changing technology like AI should not be left to unaccountable corporations. Rather than replace us, AI should be a tool to enhance our lives. Further, the speed and lack of transparency with which these technologies are being developed opens the door to serious risks that powerful AI may fall into the wrong hands or escape human control altogether. That’s why I support legislation to create guardrails around when, how, and for what purposes AI is deployed. And I oppose efforts to pre-empt state action without federal legislation in place. To address the risk of massive automation of our jobs, I support exploring income protection programs such as wage insurance and basic income, worker investment through unions, adjusting our tax system to stop penalizing human employment and rewarding automation, and investment in small business revolving loan funds. And to address the security risks, I believe we must develop clear “rules of the road” for AI development that governs which hands this technology falls into and requires us to better test and understand the models being developed. This includes clear safety testing standards for frontier models; liability and incident reporting standards; compute controls, including “know your customer” requirements for compute providers; and the creation of an independent technical agency with real enforcement power, like to the Food & Drug Administration, for AI. Blockchain has the potential to disrupt the overwhelming power of big banks in our financial lives. But these technologies also can open doors to misuse and abuse, such as pump-and-dump schemes, shitcoins, and Donald Trump’s own pay-to-play corruption scheme. That’s why I support legislation that both clarifies the governance and legitimate use-cases of blockchain for financial services, and more importantly, protects consumers and the public from those who would use financial technology to launder funds, defraud the public, or engage in corruption. Data CentersData centers are among the most direct impacts of new technologies in the lives of everyday Michiganders. I support comprehensive federal zoning guidelines and legislation that protect communities from their unintended consequences. Toward that end, I created a leading edge policy proposal for “Terms of Engagement” for data centers that I intend to pass as federal law in the U.S. Senate. Housing and HomelessnessHomelessness is an American crisis–and it’s a housing issue. Too many Americans are priced out of the most basic necessity of shelter. And working people can’t afford housing in the communities in which they work. I aim to solve it.We need a building boom. And to create that we need to massively invest in building new housing in communities across the country, and to streamline local regulations that are making it way too hard to build anything in America. I’ll stand up to the corporate profiteers who are on the wrong side of affordable housing. I want to ban large corporations that speculate on our housing stock from owning homes at all. And I will support federal legislation to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing software that allows corporate landlords to collude to raise rent. I want to require Big Tech companies like AirBnB and VRBO to pay special housing dislocation fees for the housing stock they occupy in local communities. And I will stand up to corporate landlords against unfair evictions that are forcing too many Americans onto the streets. Toward that end, I believe we need a federal renter bill of rights that protects renters from exploitation and clarifies the obligations for landlords across the country. EducationEducation is the foundation of our future. I propose tying any percentage increase in our national education funding to any equivalent increase in the national defense budget. As a proud graduate of public schools and a public university, I understand the critical role of funding education from childcare through K-12 and beyond to prepare our young people for their futures.I believe in the right to literacy. That starts with universal childcare, universal pre-K, and public K-12 education that is comprehensive, empowering, and tailored to kids’ unique needs. I protected children in Detroit from lead in their schools, and I believe that we need a massive investment in school infrastructure–the buildings and community spaces that are so critical to the safety and security of children in the place we leave them, most of the day, most of the year. Rather than gutting the Department of Education, I will support public schools, protect the civil rights of children, respect and invest in our educators and staff, and fight to guarantee high-quality public education for all. Teachers deserve to be paid more. So I support raising the minimum salary for teachers to at least $60,000/year. I also support more investment in paraprofessionals, including nurses, psychologists, social workers, and behavioral health specialists, so that all students have access to wraparound services that are critical to ensuring a healthy and productive learning environment. The federal government has failed to care for students with disabilities and special needs and I believe we should fulfill our obligation to finally fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Further, we need to think beyond the outdated funding models that tie school funding to property taxes, which deprive working-class communities and schools of sufficient resources. Public school should be truly public–and I oppose efforts to privatize public education through vouchers and other programs intended to move public money into private pockets. We need to think past traditional models of education. I’ll work alongside our unions to fund and expand vocational and apprenticeship training opportunities so that every American has a pathway to expand their skills. In addition, I believe in expanding funding for America’s HBCUs, community colleges, and trade schools, recognizing that these have been the engine of social mobility for generations of young people locked out of other forms of higher education. America’s colleges and universities are among its most critical research institutions. They deserve more funding, not less. That funding should focus on high-risk, high-impact science that has the potential to change the world. Sadly, too few have access to our colleges and universities. That’s why I believe that every student deserves a debt-free and tuition-free pathway toward the skills they need to thrive, be that a two-year apprenticeship or a four-year college education and beyond. To cap the runaway inflation in higher education, I believe we must cap the administrative overhead costs for institutions receiving federal funding. We need more research and teaching rather than rec centers and flavors of frozen yogurt. I will also champion non-traditional tenure pathways for educators whose work advances the teaching mission of higher education institutions.FarmingMichigan is the cherry capital of America and one of the most agriculturally diverse states in the nation. For too long, Washington has ignored us. Federal farm subsidies funnel money to massive corn and soy operations while family farmers go broke and the crops that define Michigan farming struggle. I’ll fight to redirect federal farm subsidies away from corporate agribusiness and toward the family farmers who need them. I aim to cap individual subsidy payments at $250,000 per year and reinvest those dollars into specialty crops, diversified agriculture, and regenerative farming that builds long-term food security and rural prosperity. I’ll push for targeted, negotiated trade protections for Michigan’s specialty crops. Unlike the reckless blanket tariffs that raise farmers’ costs and invite retaliation, I’ll focus duties squarely at the foreign producers who dump below-cost goods into our