Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's Win Isn't Just Historic—It Proved Something Many Thought Impossible

The primary was tough. The general will be vicious with Trump's MAGA pick Mike Rogers already running a shameless culture war campaign — here's how we win again

Last night, 41-year-old Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for United States Senate in Michigan. In a minute I’ll explain why I use his full name. What he overcame to get here is not just politically significant. It is historic.

He was outspent 11 to 1. His opponents deployed more than $60 million in outside spending against him—including AIPAC money, corporate PAC money, and a coordinated, grotesque anti-Muslim disinformation campaign designed specifically to disqualify a brown Muslim man from seeking public office.

He won anyway. And you can donate to his campaign here to help him win in November. But understand this, Abdul won not despite his values. Because of them. And we need to understand why so we can duplicate it nationwide.

Let’s Address This.

In June I interviewed Dr. Abdul El Sayed, during which time he shared his vision for Michigan as a fighter for working families

Abdul — The Man Uniting Michigan

Abdul’s full name is Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. I use his full name on purpose, because MAGAs are already attacking him over his name. As Abdul said today at his press conference, “Mike [Rogers], if you can’t pronounce my name, keep it out of your damn mouth.”

This disingenuous attack from Mike Rogers is designed to divide and create hate, nothing more. Indeed, I am reminded that Nimarata Nikki Randhawa ran as Nikki Haley, Piyush Amrit Jindal ran as Bobby Jindal, Raphael Edward Cruz ran as Ted Cruz, and we still don’t know what JD Vance’s actual name is because it changes every few years.

But yes the real issue is Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is running as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Every MAGA accusation is a confession.

Within hours of the results, the Democratic Party in Michigan began to unite around Abdul in a way that should give every working family in this state genuine hope.

Both of his primary opponents—Mallory McMorrow and Haley Stevens—have endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate. Mallory did so immediately as the race was called last night—just as she promised she would earlier in the day. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had previously endorsed Stevens, announced that she has also endorsed Abdul. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed Abdul. This is significant, given the propaganda claim that Abdul “campaigned against Harris.” In truth, Abdul endorsed VP Harris literally the day after Joe Biden dropped out in 2024.

The coalition forming around Abdul is broad, energized, and built on the critical point that Michigan is a must win Senate seat in November. Moreover, that Abdul El-Sayed is the candidate to win it.

But not everyone has gotten the memo, and we need to acknowledge that to move forward.

The Voices of Dissent—And What It Reveals

Representative Hillary Scholten, Democrat of Michigan, announced she will not support Abdul, stating: “I will not stand beside someone who has allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to enter our public dialogue.”

I want to address this directly.

First: “vote blue no matter who” apparently only applies when the blue candidate is white. We saw this when Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination in New York City, and numerous centrist Democrats either refused to endorse him or instead endorsed credibly accused sexual abuser Andrew Cuomo. We saw it when AIPAC targeted Congressman Jamaal Bowman and unseated him in the primary—Democratic leadership remained silent. And we saw it when AIPAC targeted and unseated Congresswoman Cori Bush in the primary, and once again the Democratic establishment refused to denounce AIPAC’s meddling. The pattern is too consistent and too targeted to be anything other than what it is.

Second: the profound irony of calling the brown Muslim candidate “anti-American” while his opponent—the candidate Scholten presumably supported—benefited from $60 million in foreign-influenced dark money PAC spending apparently escapes her entirely.

Third: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not mince words when he wrote from Birmingham Jail that the white moderate is “worse than the Ku Klux Klanner”—more devoted to order than to justice, more committed to comfort than to conscience. Scholten’s statement is a living example of exactly what Dr. King was describing. He did not lie then. The evidence continues to vindicate him now.

But we do not have to settle for this demonization. We never did. And Abdul’s victory last night proved it, by showing us what electability actually means.

What Electability Actually Looks Like

The political establishment has spent decades telling us that electability means moderation. That it requires corporate funding. That it forces softening your positions, avoiding controversy, taking the AIPAC check, and never making the donor class uncomfortable. And therefore, candidates like Abdul “just aren’t electable in purple Michigan.”

But Abdul El-Sayed just demolished that theory—empirically, on election night, in one of the most important Senate primaries in the country.

He was outspent 11 to 1. He faced $60 million in coordinated outside spending. He endured a months-long anti-Muslim disinformation campaign that traced its roots directly to the same racial delegitimization playbook used against Barack Obama, Ilhan Omar, and Zohran Mamdani. He was lied about on debate stages. He was smeared in mailers. He was told, in a hundred different ways, that a brown Muslim doctor who supports universal healthcare, is openly critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, who rejects Chuck Schumer and corporate money cannot win in Michigan.

Michigan said otherwise. And that matters. The voices of Michiganders matter because they prove something that we must accept as true if we hope to win in the future: Electability is determined by values and ideas—not SuperPACs and the status quo. That is not a progressive talking point. It is last night’s election result.

Abdul’s victory points toward something larger than one Senate race. It is further affirmation of a model of Democratic politics that the establishment has resisted, the donor class has fought against, and working people have been waiting for.

It is the affirmation of a politics of people-funded campaigns. A politics of working class issues. A politics of universal healthcare as a human right. And it is a politics that rejects Islamophobia and antisemitism, racism and anti-LGBTQ hate, xenophobia and anti-immigrant hate—not as a campaign strategy, but as a foundational value. Abdul’s win exemplifies the possibilities of running for something—a unified country, a working class coalition, a big tent built on dignity—rather than running on a politics of hate and division and culture wars.

But unity doesn’t come from mere endorsements. It comes from meaningful and deliberate engagement. That is the task Abdul has before him—to convince Black voters who voted +20 for Stevens that he’s got their back. To convince Jewish voters that he sees their safety and the safety of his own daughters as one and the same. And to convince rural voters who traditionally vote red that he’s their working class champion. This part is messy, but necessary. This is the moment to extend grace to each other. To extend vulnerability to each other. To build the truly working class coalition that lifts all of us—regardless of race, faith, background, or zip code.

The Road Ahead

Joining Abdul in Michigan as victors are William Lawrence—Sunrise Movement co-founder and one of the most important progressive organizers of his generation, and Donavan McKinney, who ousted a corrupt corporate centrist Democrat. Rep Rashida Tlaib comfortably won reelection.

Michigan is in a great place—and now we must keep the momentum going nationally.

Next week we have the opportunity to nominate Peggy Flanagan for Senate in Minnesota on their August 11 primary, Francesca Hong for Governor in Wisconsin’s August 11 primary, and Angie Nixon for Senate in Florida’s August 18 primary. Each of these amazing women are running principled, people-funded campaigns centered on working families, economic justice, universal healthcare, and the bold politics that this moment demands.

My ask of you—maintain hope for a brighter tomorrow. And practically speaking, stay subscribed to Let’s Address This. I will be interviewing each of these in the coming weeks—lifting them up, holding them accountable, and making sure this community has everything it needs to help them win.

Because last night proved something many of us have always known, but now have more receipts to show: when we fight for working people without apology, when we reject corporate money without hesitation, when we name injustice without equivocation—we win.

Abdul El-Sayed won. The movement is winning.

Let’s keep going. ❤️✊🏽

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, people-powered politics, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to deliver. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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