AS a tight slap on the face of U.S. President Donald Trump, Michiganders on Tuesday elected Abdul El-Sayed as the first Muslim senator of the United States.
CNN projected El-Sayed will win the Michigan senate race at approximately 12:25 a.m. (PCT) on Wednesday [11:25 p.m. PT on Tuesday].
El-Sayed had won 2,206,235 votes (52 per cent) as compared to Republican candidate Mike Rogers’ 1,952,991 votes (46 per cent) with 85 per cent of the votes counted at approximately 12:30 a.m. (PCT) on Wednesday [11:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday].
El-Sayed had mocked Trump at his final rally, telling him: ‘Call me senator after tomorrow’.
In his speech to his supporters as the final votes were being counted in Michigan, he rejected the divisiveness of his opponents and asserted amidst loud applause and cheers: “We know that America is big enough for all of us.”
So, while Trump will be a lameduck President for the next two years, El-Sayed will be a powerful senator for the next six years.
According to his website, El-Sayed was born and raised in Southeast Michigan and attended public schools where he captained his high school football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams. He was raised by his father, Mohamed, an Egyptian immigrant, and his stepmom, Jackie, whose family has lived in Gratiot County, Michigan, since the 1800s.
El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan with the highest distinction and played on the Wolverines men’s lacrosse team. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University on an NIH-funded fellowship and a second doctorate at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
El-Sayed rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department after bankruptcy. Then he restructured Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services, serving 1.8 million Michiganders in the state’s largest and most diverse county.
As a public servant, he secured free glasses for kids who needed them, removed lead from Detroit’s elementary schools, took on Michigan’s biggest polluters, and made life-saving Narcan universally accessible. He also spearheaded a program that will cancel up to $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 Michiganders over two years. His work earned him recognition as “Public Official of the Year” by the Michigan LCV and a spot on Crain’s Detroit Business 40 Under 40 list.
Recognized nationwide as an expert on improving the American healthcare system, El-Sayed authored Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide, which explains how to build a healthcare system that guarantees high-quality, affordable healthcare for every American. In 2020, he was selected to serve on President Joe Biden’s Unity Task Force for Healthcare, helping craft policies that are lowering prescription drug prices today.
El-Sayed lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Sarah, and their two young daughters, Emmalee and Serene.
