US midterm elections: Who is Abdul El-Sayed? The Egyptian-American Rhodes scholar and public health expert taking on Republicans in Michigan’s Senate race

Michigan’s US Senate race is now set to feature Abdul El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American Rhodes Scholar who defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary with 744,952 votes. The victory marks El-Sayed's first successful bid for elected office. In 2018, he ran for governor, finishing second to Gretchen Whitmer in the Democratic primary. Whitmer won all 83 Michigan counties in that race, though El-Sayed came within two-tenths of a percentage point of taking Washtenaw County, where he currently lives.

At 41, he brings a background in medicine and public health to a contest usually shaped by party politics and campaign spending. He once led Detroit’s health department but has never held elected office.

In November, he will face Republican Mike Rogers, with healthcare, the cost of living and corporate influence in politics among the issues at stake.

Who Is Abdul El-Sayed? The Progressive Democrat Challenging Republicans in Michigan’s Senate Race

El-Sayed was born in Rochester Hills on October 31, 1984. His father, an Egyptian immigrant, and his stepmother are both engineers. His biological mother works as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in Missouri.

He graduated from Bloomfield Hills High School in 2003, captaining the football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams. He earned his bachelor's degree in biology and political science from the University of Michigan in 2007, where he delivered the commencement address.

In 2009, while attending medical school at Michigan, El-Sayed received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He earned a doctorate in public health there in 2011 before completing his medical degree at Columbia University in 2014. He is married to psychiatrist Sarah Jukaku, and the couple has two daughters.

El-Sayed began his career as an assistant professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. In 2015, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan appointed him health officer and executive director of the city's health department. He held that position until 2017, when he stepped down to run for governor.

He later returned to municipal health administration, leading Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veteran Services from December 2022 to April 2025. Outside government work, he hosted the public health podcast America Dissected.

During the primary campaign, opponents raised questions about El-Sayed calling himself a physician. While he holds a medical degree from Columbia, he isn't licensed to practice medicine in Michigan. Under state law, the legal title of physician requires active state authorization. El-Sayed stated that after treating patients in medical school, he chose to focus on systemic public health policy rather than clinical practice.

El-Sayed’s campaign centers on three core themes - 1. Removing money from politics, 2. Raising household income, and 3. Passing Medicare for All.

He co-authored a 2021 book detailing single-payer healthcare implementation and accepts no corporate campaign contributions.

His platform advocates overturning Citizens United, eliminating the Senate filibuster, ending lifetime Supreme Court tenure, and replacing Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a restructured border agency.

His economic proposals include public ownership stakes in artificial intelligence companies, a wealth tax on assets over $1 billion, and higher marginal rates on income exceeding $1 million. To address local housing shortages, he advocates federal zoning rules for data centers and specialized fees on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO.

During the primary campaign, El-Sayed’s past statements drew scrutiny from opponents and media fact-checkers. Financial disclosures show El-Sayed and his wife have an estimated net worth between $700,000 and $2.1 million.

Campaign materials claimed El-Sayed erased $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 Wayne County residents while serving as health director. County records show the program spent funds to erase $57.4 million in debt for roughly 83,200 residents.

On public safety, El-Sayed supported defunding the police during a 2020 interview, and shift the government spending away from incarceration and toward community development and poverty reduction.

In 2024, he participated in Michigan’s "uncommitted" primary protest vote over the war in Gaza, though he didn't organize the movement and later endorsed Kamala Harris for president.