ACCORDING TO LIZ - Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who won a divisive Democratic senate primary in the swing state of Michigan, is now targeting the increasingly-unpopular president.
In a recent interview, he championed the appeal of his progressive populism over Trump, ending by pointing out:
“My hair is real. And my hands are way bigger than his.”
But what really differentiates the two men is El-Sayed’s continuously voicing his opinion that Americans still have more in common than not. This inclusiveness appeals to voters, especially progressives and the young aching for a better future.
He stands in opposition to the media drumbeat promoting the sectarianism of our times with even the venerable New York Times attempting to create a self-fulfilling narrative stoking the story that El-Sayed and other candidates of the “activist left typically don’t perform as well as other Democrats.”
That and his heartfelt commitment to the people.
After studying medicine and public health he has spent his career in Michigan proving what government can do when it actually works for people’s health. And learned that, while a doctor can prescribe medicine to help sick people get better, nobody can prescribe away poverty.
And no-one can cure what corporate greed does to us in a political system rigged to value profits over people. That the real disease affecting Americans today is a political system corrupted by billionaires and corporations who buy access to politicians and leave everyone else to pay for it.
So now the Michigan candidate is reaching out nationally to build the coalition he needs to win in November, speaking with a panoply of influential politicians from former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the state in 2024, to Illinois governor JB Pritzker, a billionaire, and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
Even Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader who privately opposed him in the primary. Together with Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Schumer issued a joint statement:
“Democrats are united by a common purpose: putting a check on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the Senate. We look forward to working with Abdul and Democrats across Michigan to win this seat in November.”
Michiganders are also on board: his primary opponent Haley Stevens, who El-Sayed called a team player; Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who championed Stevens; and Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the Senate race last month, all are endorsing his candidature in November.
In a campaign that, instead of emulating those of many recent and overly complacent Democrats built solely on opposing Trump, offers people a positive vision to vote for, a radical hope that their lives can be made dramatically better.
In a win that would help flip the Senate and energize a movement to finally realize the deferred dreams of FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights and MLK’s crucial extension of the civil-rights revolution, the Freedom Budget for All Americans.
That, as Patti Smith sang in 1988:
“… everything we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around”
This is the view FDR inspired with his New Deal, dismissed by so-called experts as socialist, but embraced by the electorate as essential.
This is the audacity of hope employed by Barack Obama to call together a divided nation “as a single American family.”
This is how Jesse Jackson endeavored to center a novel vision based on the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Democratic Party, one so magnetic as to draw all people in.
“If we lift up a program to feed the hungry, they’ll come running. If we lift up a program to study war no more, our youth will come running… If we lift up a program to put America back to work, and an alternative to welfare and despair, they will come working.”
The progressive gospels of MLK and Jackson became mainstream during Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns, laying a foundation for a new generation of activists: calling for Medicare for All, taxing the rich, ending poverty, protecting immigrants, and changing foreign policy.
The hoary Dem leadership keeps wringing their hands and holding out for a centrist economic stability… that is anything but. Other than for lining the party’s war chest… which does no good if they cannot win.
They need to stop navel-gazing and being in the game for personal self-affirmation, and start advocating to bring all Americans under the same tent or risk a seismic schism.
Give people something to vote FOR rather than just vote AGAINST. Treat voters like intelligent human beings. Truthfully explain in terms everyone can understand the crises facing our country and propose the paths to push forward on to rectify the problems. Now, not in the next millennium.
Our country needs real change NOW.
Oligarchs, who wield such enormous power over our economy and political life must be vanquished, and corporate greed drastically curtailed.
Make the minimum wage a living wage. Demand an end to poverty for seniors, children and the disabled. Render housing affordable again, and create millions of well-paying jobs by combatting the existential threat of climate change.
Fix our dysfunctional healthcare system and provide healthcare as a human right by establishing a single payer system guaranteeing care to everyone living in America.
Force the multi-millionaires and billionaire class to pay their fair share of taxes.
Reverse this administration’s disastrous approach to foreign policy. With an about-face from “endless wars” and a return to humanitarianism, bring health and help to the rest of the world undermining the power of autocrats and terrorists.
El-Sayed clearly resonates with progressives and young voters.
Now he needs to reconnect with the Black communities with whom he worked as a public health official in Detroit and Wayne County, and their statewide networks to generate excitement in voters who strongly supported Stevens in the primary.
Now he needs to double down on connecting to working-class voters and win the trust of people who were skeptical about his message and positions, communicating that he will be a good listener and a good representative for every constituent. Which may have already begun with El-Sayed calling for “real, fair-trade deals that create good-paying jobs” at the same time as Michigan’s 350,000-member strong United Auto Workers voiced opposition to the latest Trump tariffs.
Now he needs to continue weaving the delicate path between embracing the safety of the Jewish people, here and around the world, with equal rights for Palestinians.
For those feeling threatened by his opposition to AIPAC and the actions of the current Israeli government, he says: “To all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith, or any faith at all, or no faith at all, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety – to Jewish safety – is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”
He viscerally understands that Americans’ similarities vastly outweigh their differences but to get volunteers and voters to come out, he must avoid turning people off as well as inspiring them.
To do so, he is pursuing consistency and positive messaging, prioritizing coherence in all his campaigning: “I want to make sure that when somebody touches our campaign that our message is clear, it’s concise and it’s consistent.”
Doubling down on “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all” as what matters. So much so that he can walk into any room and say: “Money out of?” and people respond: “Politics.” “Money in your?” “Pocket.” “Medicare for?” “All.”
El-Sayed correctly points out that the president “cares more about his ego and saber-rattling than addressing the affordability crisis.”
That Trump has created “this trade war for his own vanity, and he’s asking Michigan families to pay the price” while his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, is but the rubber-stamper of the president’s “chaotic tariffs and bad trade deals.”
People like Rogers, who he calls corrupt, self-serving, lacking in vision for the country and, along with Trump and JD Vance, want to define America as being smaller than his America.
El-Sayed sees Americans as “big-hearted and open-minded… asking less about how you pray than what you pray for.”
In talking about capitalism, he avers it’s a system built on leveraging supply and demand to efficiently allocate capital expenditure to maximize value. But for whom?
“When capitalism works, it’s because you have free entry and exit into markets. So, if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe in government regulation to protect markets. In fact, right now, we have exactly the opposite. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that you should be taxing billionaires their wealth. In fact, if you are a capitalist, you should believe in that.”
He points out that the president and Republicans are clutching onto culture-war screeds as scare tactics to distract Americans from their legitimate economic concerns under this tripartite-run regime.
And that slurs against those who try to hold them accountable are equally desperate diversions.
That when the president calls people communists or worse, he may claim he’s joking but hurting, especially vulnerable people who can’t hit back, is no joke. Anyone who rules by threats and fear is no joker.
El-Sayed says, “I am not afraid of him.”
His cojones and his humility in the face of a bully is integral to the man and his mission. As is his desire to encompass all constituents.
Asked about the possibility of becoming the first Muslim senator if he beats Rogers, El-Sayed responded, “I’m just interested in being the next U.S. senator from Michigan.”
FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights
MLK’s Freedom Budget for All Americans
Learn more about Abdul El-Sayed and support his campaign
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
