Who is Abdul El-Sayed, the Muslim doctor who won for the Senate in Michigan

Forty-two year old American from Detroit, Abdul El-Sayed will be the first Muslim senator in the history of the United States. In his speech to win the Michigan seat he repeated: "They tried to convince us that America is small for some but America is big enough to accommodate everyone."

“To all the parents who have struggled to explain why the president would openly mock someone for their name or the way they pray: Tomorrow, tell your kids that the bad guys lost.” Forty-two years old, American from Detroit, Abdul El-Sayed will be the first Muslim senator in the history of the United States (THE LIVEBLOG). In his speech winning Michigan's Senate seat he repeated, "They tried to convince us that America is small for some but America is big enough to accommodate everyone."

"Social Surgeon"

"A public servant running for the United States Senate, because it shouldn't be that hard to make ends meet. Born and raised in Michigan. Dad of two daughters. Doctor." This is how Abdul El-Sayed describes himself in the bio of his Instagram profile. Born in 1984, born in the Detroit metropolitan area to Egyptian immigrants and a great fan of the Michigan Wolverines, El-Sayed studied medicine and public health, graduating with honors from the University of Michigan and then obtaining a doctorate from the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, and the title of doctor of medicine from Columbia University. He was the youngest director of Detroit's public health department, where he distinguished himself by removing lead from schools and extending medical care to underserved communities. When a refinery wants to increase sulfur dioxide emissions, El-Sayed sides with the residents of working-class neighborhoods, dubbing his work "Social Surgery."

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Supporter of Medicare for All

After running for governor in 2018, he won the Democratic Senate nomination in August 2026 by defeating Haley Stevens in the primary, then beating Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. On October 24, former president Barack Obama gathered four thousand militants at Cass Tech High School in Detroit to support El-Sayed. A proud supporter of Medicare for All, the universal public healthcare system, he proposes higher taxes for billionaires and medical debt cancellation for working-class families. El-Sayed has spoken out harshly about the crisis in Gaza, calling the war a genocide and opposing sending further military aid to Israel. This line pitted him against his own party's more moderate establishment, but his promise to redirect foreign funds to the domestic economy struck a chord with Michigan's electorate. Celebrating with him was his wife he met at university, Sarah Jukaku (psychiatrist, Muslim American) and his two daughters Emmalee and Serene.

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