Michigan Senate nominee El-Sayed tells Dearborn roundtable: “I will show up. I don’t back down.”
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed told voters at a Dearborn, Michigan, candidate roundtable that he is “far from perfect” but will “show up” and will not back down, the Arab American News reported on Oct. 23.
The Arab American News hosted the interviews, organized by New Michigan Media, with publishers and editors from the Latino Press, Michigan Korean Weekly, the Arab American News and the Bengali-language Bangla Shangbad. Dr. Hayg Oshagan, New Michigan Media’s executive director, moderated. The paper said El-Sayed, Democratic secretary of state nominee Garlin Gilchrist, Republican secretary of state nominee Anthony Forlini and Democratic attorney general nominee Eli Savit took part. It said Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers did not respond, and that every participating candidate received equal interview time.
El-Sayed said outside organizations were spending heavily to defeat him and that he was outspent 11-to-1 in the primary. He argued that the opposition reflected his refusal to serve corporate interests or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “I’m not willing to take orders from AIPAC. I’m not willing to do anything except for what I think is the right thing, and I’m willing to lose over it,” he said.
Asked by Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani how he would win back Dearborn-area voters who backed him in the primary but may now be less enthusiastic, El-Sayed said: “There is no perfect candidate. I am far from perfect. Just talk to my wife - far from perfect.” He added: “I am going to make mistakes. I am going to stumble sometimes. But the thing you will always get from me is that I will show up. I don’t back down.” He pointed to housing, health care, schools, clean air and clean water, and tied those priorities to opposition to military spending abroad. He said he wants to invest taxpayers’ money in the United States rather than send it overseas to kill or maim people who might be their relatives in southern Lebanon, Gaza or the West Bank.
Describing the attacks around his candidacy as ugly and particularly painful for children watching their community’s belonging questioned, he said his travels across Michigan showed most residents are welcoming, citing conversations in living rooms, veterans’ halls, union halls, churches and synagogues. “My name and my faith are not the reason why people can’t afford their gas or groceries, can’t see a doctor or are worried about the air they breathe and the water they drink,” he said. He blamed policies supported by President Donald Trump, Rogers and Vice President J.D. Vance, and argued that identity-based attacks distract from those issues. “Though I may pray a little bit differently than the average American, we pray for the same things,” he said.
On immigration, El-Sayed called ICE a “rogue agency running amok,” criticizing what he described as enforcement quotas and unchecked power. “I don’t think we need an ICE,” he said. He distinguished it from Customs and Border Protection and affirmed the need for secure borders and enforcement within constitutional limits. He said authorities must have legal grounds before detaining people, and called for honoring commitments to guest workers admitted through legal programs and for funding immigration courts to prevent prolonged uncertainty.
On the economy, he proposed curbing corporate subsidies, breaking up monopolies and oligopolies, reducing corporate influence in politics and investing in revolving loan funds for small businesses. “You can have a thousand millionaires or one billionaire for the same amount of money, and I’d rather have an economy that has a thousand millionaires,” he said. He said Medicare for All would guarantee lifelong coverage without copayments, deductibles, premiums, out-of-pocket costs or provider networks, while relieving employers of the burden of arranging workers’ insurance. Asked about Medicaid changes, he warned of an “earthquake” affecting patients and clinics’ ability to remain open, and said repealing the law would be difficult while Trump holds veto power.
El-Sayed connected young adults’ frustration to growing up amid war, financial crises, student debt, unaffordable housing and uncertainty over artificial intelligence’s effect on jobs. “We would stop bombing children. We would stop making so many bombs and going to so many wars,” he said. His guiding question, he said, is “What would we build if we treated all of our kids like all of our kids?” His answer included better schools, housing, clean air and water, child care and health care.
He cited his work rebuilding Detroit’s health department and developing Wayne County programs on medical debt, access to glasses and overdose prevention as evidence of his ability to work with others. “I would much rather work with you to build something than fight you,” he said. He pledged continued community engagement if elected, saying he does not intend to move his family to Washington, and spoke of building coalitions across ethnic, urban and rural communities.
Asked whether he feared federal interference in the election, El-Sayed said he did, citing Trump’s questioning of election outcomes. “I think we’ve got to win in such an overwhelming way that it’s undeniable,” he said. He urged turnout large enough to deliver a decisive result.