University of Michigan alum Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s upcoming Senate election, came to the Michigan Union Thursday afternoon to hold a town hall with students.
The event was co-hosted by the University’s chapter of Students for Abdul and the College Democrats at the University of Michigan. El-Sayed, who previously served as the director of Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veteran Services and co-wrote the book “Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide,” opened the town hall by rallying the crowd against the influence of money in politics.
“Alright, who here believes in people over profit?” El-Sayed said. “Let me hear you: Government of the people, by the people and for the people, rather than of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations.”
Continuing his speech, El-Sayed described his childhood growing up in a family of Egyptian immigrants, the inequalities he witnessed in his life and their impact on his subsequent career in public health. El-Sayed said his Senate run was inspired by his love for the United States.
“People like to show up … and be like, ‘You must hate America,’” El-Sayed said. “Like, no, I love America. I love America because I know exactly what my life might have been like but for America. And at the same time, I love America enough to ask America to be its best.”
El-Sayed believes the United States must address several problems, such as the expansion of raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that he feels have had a negative effect on the country.
“I happen to have family that live in a place where the government routinely kidnaps people,” El-Sayed said. “They don’t tell you why you’re being kidnapped, they don’t tell you when you’re going to get out, they don’t tell you for what reason — you’re just disappeared. I don’t want this country to be that.”
El-Sayed said, however, that Trump was not the root of the nation’s troubles. Instead, he blamed the influence of billionaires in U.S. politics and society.
“Trump is not, himself, the disease of our politics,” El-Sayed said. “Donald Trump is just the worst symptom of the disease of our politics. The disease is a system that allows huge corporations, billionaires, would-be oligarchs to buy access to politicians in ways that leaves them rigging the system against us.”
El-Sayed previously ran in the 2018 Democratic primary for the Michigan gubernatorial race. Although he lost the race to current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, he said his platform was more relevant than ever.
“When I ran back in 2018, we were crystal clear about what the problem was and about how we were going to solve it,” El-Sayed said. “Eight years on, things have just gotten worse. People are finding life less affordable.”
Amid decreasing affordability of life in the U.S., El-Sayed said the country should provide less military assistance to foreign nations. Instead of providing aid to Israel or U.S.-funded governments like Egypt, El-Sayed said the U.S. should focus on local issues such as literacy rates.
“In an era where our kids’ schools are tumbling, our literacy rates are tumbling, maybe, just maybe, we should keep our money here at home rather than sending it abroad to foreign militaries to drop bombs on other people and their children and to wage genocide with our money,” El-Sayed said.
El-Sayed clarified his position on military aid later during the town hall in response to a question asking if he would support assistance to Ukraine in the face of its invasion by Russia. He said he was not uniformly opposed to providing aid.
“I’m talking about unconditional, blank check military aid,” El-Sayed said. “That’s what I oppose. When it comes to Ukraine, it’s a very different ball game. In Ukraine, we’re talking about enforcing the rules of the rules-based international order in accordance with our allies.”
When asked what differentiated him from other prospective Democratic Senate candidates, El-Sayed said voters should consider his dislike of corporate donations and support of universal health care.
“I’m the only person in this race who hasn’t touched a dime of corporate money,” El-Sayed said. “I’ve never defended corporate money, I never will, and if you have, I’m so sorry. It just tells me that you don’t understand what the problem is. Relatedly, I’m also the only one running on ‘Medicare for All.’ Not only am I running on it, I wrote the damn book.”
To close his speech, El-Sayed said change may be what the country needs.
“We can get money out of politics, we can put money back in people’s pockets and we can pass Medicare for All,” El-Sayed said. “That is the choice we have in front of us, nothing less will do. … I know I look different, I sound different, my name is definitely different — but maybe we need a little bit more difference.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA senior Allison Doroshewitz, co-chair of the College Democrats at the University of Michigan, said while her organization cannot endorse any Democratic candidate, they were happy to host El-Sayed.
“We were very excited that Abdul reached out to us and wanted to come on campus,” Doroshewitz said. “He showed a lot of initiative in reaching out to students. We’re hopefully excited to see Senator McMorrow and Representative Stevens as well.”
In an interview with The Daily, Public Policy junior Aidan Rozema, co-chair of the College Democrats at the University of Michigan, said many members of his organization were excited about El-Sayed’s campaign.
“I think that our membership is definitely hungry for change,” Rozema said. “I think that’s true of the country broadly, and I’m excited to see candidates who are coming out and promising to take on corporate influence in our politics.”
Daily Staff Reporter Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.
