Abdul El-Sayed: The Physician Turned Senate Candidate Drawing Trump's Fire in Michigan
A public-health doctor and Rhodes Scholar, El-Sayed is running for Michigan's open Senate seat — and has become a frequent target of President Trump's rhetoric in the campaign's final weeks.
Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and epidemiologist, has emerged as one of the most closely watched political figures in the United States as the November 3, 2026, midterm elections approach. The Michigan Democrat, who is seeking an open U.S. Senate seat, has drawn repeated attention from President Donald Trump during the closing weeks of the campaign.
El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by Senator Gary Peters. His Republican opponent is former congressman Mike Rogers, a Trump ally. While policy disputes over healthcare, taxes and foreign affairs are standard fare in any Senate race, Trump's criticism of El-Sayed has extended well beyond those issues, focusing repeatedly on the candidate's Muslim faith and including accusations that independent reporting and fact-checking have found no evidence to support.
Born and raised in southeastern Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents, El-Sayed built his career in medicine and public health. He graduated from the University of Michigan, studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a doctorate in public health, and received his medical degree from Columbia University. He later served as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia before returning to Michigan.
In Detroit, El-Sayed became executive director and health officer of the city's health department, appointed to help rebuild the agency after the city's municipal bankruptcy. At the time, he was among the youngest officials running a major American city's health department. He subsequently led Wayne County's Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services, where his work included initiatives on medical debt, air-quality monitoring and broader healthcare access.
El-Sayed first drew national political attention with a run for governor of Michigan in 2018. His current Senate campaign has placed him at the center of a closely contested race, with the president's repeated public commentary elevating his profile further as voters prepare to cast ballots in November.
The contest for Michigan's open Senate seat is expected to remain a focus of national attention through Election Day, given its potential influence on the balance of power in Washington and the unusual degree of presidential engagement in the race.
