The most controversial Democratic Senate candidate is in a must-win race for the party.
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A candidate you’ll be hearing a lot about is Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee to fill an open Senate seat in Michigan.
He is a sharp-talking liberal with ties to a very controversial figure. He could be America’s first Muslim senator. He’s a lightning rod for Republican attacks. And not all Democrats are onboard for him in what looks like a close race that could make or break whether the party retakes the Senate from Republicans in November.
Here’s what to know about El-Sayed.
El-Sayed supports Medicare-for-all and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the Democratic primary this summer, he beat a more traditional (yet still liberal) opponent supported by the Democratic establishment. He is popular with younger voters and, having been born in Michigan to Egyptian parents, has the potential to appeal to the state’s large Muslim population.
Some Democratic strategists think El-Sayed’s strength in the primary suggests he can win statewide, even in a state that narrowly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. Trump appealed to the state’s working-class voters, and in his primary El-Sayed won the endorsement of the powerful United Auto Workers union, which praised El-Sayed as “someone we can trust to have our backs, including when we need it most.”
“I’d rather run someone who is fiercely pushing for change on a top issue like health care affordability over someone associated with the status quo any day of the week,” said Texas-based Democratic pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz, who is working to help Democrats win a Senate race in that red state.
El-Sayed has reigned in some of his more liberal views, framing Medicare-for-all as a journey rather than an overnight change. He’s also focusing more on talking about affordability and battling Trump’s trade war with Canada, which hits Michigan hard.
Other Democrats worry he’s just too liberal to win statewide in a swing state. His opponent is Rep. Mike Rogers, who has run for Senate before and is campaigning as a relatively traditional Republican. A Fox News poll taken in August of registered voters showed Rogers with a slight lead over El-Sayed, despite polls showing Democrats in other Senate battleground states with leads over their Republican opponents.
“I’m watching this with increasing concern,” longtime Democratic strategist Jim Manley said. “At the start of last year, no one in their right minds thought the Senate was in play for Democrats. But now, in part due to Trump’s spectacular implosion, a lot of these seats are winnable. Except we’re looking at a situation where some of our candidates might be too extreme for the general election.”
El-Sayed’s political rise comes amid a growing skepticism in America, especially on the left, about the action’s of Israel’s government, particularly in Gaza.
He is one of the fiercest Democratic critics of Israel — so much so that his positions have alienated some in the party.
He has condemned antisemitism throughout his campaign and asserted that he is as committed to Jewish safety as he is to the safety of his daughters. But he has often not directly answered questions about whether he believes Israel has the right to exist.
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He also recently apologized for comments he made in March about an attack on a synagogue near Detroit when he said that “hurt people hurt people” and that “violence is a cycle.” El-Sayed said he did not intend to justify the attack, as some Jewish Michiganders perceived, but acknowledged his comments were misplaced and hurtful.
Perhaps most contentiously, El-Sayed maintains ties with a controversial streamer on the far left, Hasan Piker, who has repeatedly made inflammatory comments about Israel. El-Sayed campaigned with Piker in the primary and hasn’t disavowed him.
At least one Democratic member of Congress from Michigan isn’t endorsing El-Sayed because of this.
“Abdul El-Sayed had a prime opportunity to cut ties with Piker and directly disavow his words, but he did not,” Rep. Hillary Scholten said.
Three Democratic donors in Michigan are hosting a fundraiser for his Republican opponent.
Republicans are trying to lean on El-Sayed to outrun Trump’s overall unpopularity in Michigan and even elsewhere.
Some of their attacks have turned ugly: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) posted on social media that El-Sayed is a “TERRORIST.” Vice President JD Vance said El-Sayed is “very, very evil.” Trump posted on social media a photo of himself and first lady Melania Trump alongside El-Sayed and his wife, who wears a hijab. “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s,” he said.
El-Sayed appears to be responding by dishing out increasingly personal attacks against Republicans. “What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks?” he’s said of Vance’s wife. “She’s like, ‘Damn, I have to sleep with him.’”
While El-Sayed seems adept at getting headlines, many Democrats hope he’ll focus more on how he will make life more affordable for Michganders.
“He won the primary, so it’s hard to second-guess everything he’s doing,” said Caitlin Legacki, a Democrat who worked for El-Sayed’s opponent in the primary, Rep. Haley Stevens. “But winning campaigns are about addition, not subtraction.”
Amber Phillips writes The 5-Minute Fix newsletter, a quick analysis of the day’s biggest political news. Send her an email here, or ask a question that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter.
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