Abdul El-Sayed
Abdul El-Sayed is an American epidemiologist, public health administrator, academic and politician who is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan.
Born and raised in southeast Michigan, El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in public health. He then earned his medical degree from Columbia University and became an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He was the executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017, and from 2023 to 2025 he served as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services.
A progressive Democrat, El-Sayed supports Medicare for All, ending US military funding to Israel, and abolishing ICE. In the 2026 Michigan Democratic Senate primary, El-Sayed defeated U.S. representative Haley Stevens. He faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election. If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim member of the U.S. Senate.
Born and raised in southeast Michigan, El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in public health. He then earned his medical degree from Columbia University and became an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He was the executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017, and from 2023 to 2025 he served as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services.
A progressive Democrat, El-Sayed supports Medicare for All, ending US military funding to Israel, and abolishing ICE. In the 2026 Michigan Democratic Senate primary, El-Sayed defeated U.S. representative Haley Stevens. He faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election. If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim member of the U.S. Senate.
