Dr. Abdul El-Sayed celebrated a narrow victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly one percentage point before supporters in downtown Detroit. In his victory speech, El-Sayed thanked volunteers and backers, praised their willingness to challenge powerful political interests, and emphasized unity following a hard-fought campaign. He also commended Stevens as a dedicated public servant, saying their shared commitment to democracy outweighed their primary differences. The closely watched race now shifts toward the general election, where national attention and President Donald Trump’s criticism are expected to intensify.
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NewsTranscript
00:01I just want to say how grateful I am to my colleague, Senator McMorrow, Chairman Hertel, to all of our
00:08incredible supporters here.
00:10What a race, you know, in the words of Muhammad Ali, we shook up the world.
00:15And I want to say just first and foremost, how grateful I am for the opportunity to participate in democracy.
00:24Now, my family immigrated to this country from a place where there is not democracy.
00:27You cannot just put your hand up and run.
00:31And the ability to do this, to have our voices heard, to select our leaders, it is a gift that
00:39sometimes we take for granted.
00:40So to have participated means so much.
00:42And to my fellow participants, I just want to say how grateful I am to you.
00:46Senator McMorrow, you ran an incredible race.
00:48You fought to end the corporate corruption in our politics.
00:51You took on the power of AIPAC.
00:52You were willing to speak truth to a level of power that sometimes is unbeatable.
00:58And I just want to want to say thank you and how grateful I am to have your support here
01:03today.
01:04I cannot wait to see what you do next.
01:06And I hope that for as long as I'm in this work, that we can be in this work together.
01:14To my colleague and friend, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, we shared a great conversation this morning.
01:20And I know that it was a bitter end to this very long primary.
01:24But I also know that Haley brings the best of herself to her work.
01:29She is one of the most committed public servants that she'll ever meet.
01:32She loves democracy like I love democracy.
01:35And whatever differences that we might have had in the primary, they pale in comparison to what unifies us.
01:40A recognition that so long as we want to keep our democracy, that democracy better be working for people.
01:45And that all of us have to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the
01:50inside of the U.S. Senate.
01:51So, Congresswoman, thank you for your race.
01:59And I have to say a few more thank yous before we talk about where we're going next.
02:03First, I got to thank my wife, Sara.
02:09I really, when we decided to jump into this race, I knew that it was going to be tough for
02:15me.
02:15But I also knew that it was going to be particularly tough on our family.
02:18And the fact that she held it down alongside her medical practice, alongside making sure that our daughters didn't experience
02:25this without thinking life was just normal.
02:29That takes just an extraordinary amount of effort and sacrifice.
02:33So, I just want to say how grateful I am to you, love.
02:35And I'm so, so honored and thankful that we get to continue this 20 years on.
02:40It's been a hell of a ride.
02:43I owe her a 20th anniversary on our 21st anniversary because we definitely didn't get one of those this year.
02:48To my daughters, I know that they're not watching.
02:51But, you know, I wish this meant I get a little bit more time with you.
02:56But give me three more months.
03:01To everybody who put their shoulders into the work.
03:04Anybody who made a contribution, who knocked on a door, who made a phone call, who put yourself into this
03:10democracy,
03:11who gave us your stake in democracy, this movement, this moment is for you.
03:16And I just can't say how grateful I am to have earned the votes that we got.
03:20We took on a machine.
03:22You're not supposed to be able to beat $70 million of outside spending.
03:27A record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign.
03:34You're not supposed to be able to beat that.
03:36And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.
03:42What we showed is that if you're willing to build a movement brick by brick,
03:45if you're willing to go and travel your state and have the conversations in rooms big and small,
03:50starting in moments when people aren't even paying attention to an election,
03:53but are paying attention to the price of gas and the price of groceries and the price of housing and
03:57the price of health care,
03:58that you can build a conversation that builds into a movement that defeats Goliath.
04:05This is what you all show.
04:08And my hope is that our democracy will never be the same.
04:12So when big pharma and big tech, when DTE and Blue Cross come a-knocking saying,
04:17you know what, this is our democracy and we're going to own it,
04:20from here on out, we can always point and say,
04:22no, this is the people's democracy and we will always own it.
04:33This would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of so many allies and allied organizations.
04:40I got to give a special thank you to my first endorsers,
04:44Bernie Sanders, the OG who came in on day one, put his entire shoulder in the work.
04:48I just hope that I can help to carry some of that load in the fight for working people and
04:53Medicare for All
04:53that he's been carrying for all of this time.
04:56To the UAW, the unbeatable and dominable UAW.
05:01As a son of immigrants,
05:05son of a father who came to this country to build cars,
05:08I got to say that this is still the best place in the world to make an automobile,
05:12and that is because of the fighting UAW,
05:14but it's also the best place in the world to build a family.
05:18Because of the fighting UAW.
05:20And our work is about making sure
05:24that the folks who want to sell our democracy off to corporations and special interests
05:29don't get to take that away.
05:31And I stand in lockstep with our UAW sisters and brothers.
05:34To the AFT, the National Nurses United, the AFGE, the AAUP,
05:38thank you so much for your work.
05:40To all of the advocacy organizations who made this possible on the ground.
05:44Folks like the PCCC and move on.
05:49Folks like the Working Families Party.
05:52All of the constituency organizations who knocked on doors and made phone calls.
05:56Thank you so much for putting your shoulder into the work.
05:59I also have to thank all of our endorsers, 300 strong, who came in, spent their time with us,
06:09came from just down the street or came from across the country to talk about what it looks like
06:15to build a movement of the people, by the people, and for the people.
06:18I want to say how grateful I am to you.
06:22We built this campaign brick by brick.
06:24Back in April, I remember talking to a room of five people.
06:28In a discussion that most people will never clock,
06:31but it was an opportunity for us to share an honest conversation about pain and about purpose.
06:37And I've been able to have 500 more of those discussions over the past 15 months.
06:43Because I trained to be a doctor, and the single most important moment that makes a clinical encounter
06:51is that moment that somebody shares their pain with you, believing that you can do something about it.
06:55I don't practice medicine, as has been well documented by all of you.
07:00But I hope that I get to practice that part of things.
07:03And I've been able to practice it, but it requires people being willing to share their pain with you
07:08so that you can do something about it.
07:10That is a moment, a piece of vulnerability people give you
07:15because they believe that you can actually fix it.
07:18It's an investment, sure, in a campaign, but it more is an investment in democracy.
07:24And as we traveled our state, we were in living rooms in Lansing,
07:28VFW halls in Escanaba, basements in Grand Rapids, churches in Detroit.
07:32I got to meet so many of you, Michigan, so many.
07:36And you shared both what caused pain, but also what brought purpose.
07:40And we forged a movement out of that to get money out of politics,
07:45put money back in pockets and pass Medicare for all to guarantee health care in this country.
07:55And for our troubles, the corporations, the special interests,
08:00who would rather get to decide who our elected officials are
08:04than let us decide who our elected officials are,
08:06they spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us.
08:12Attack ad after attack ad after attack ad after attack ad.
08:15Wall to wall ads.
08:17But it turns out that the commercials are the part of the television show most people don't want to watch.
08:22It turns out that you can spend as much money as you want on lies,
08:27but it doesn't make them true.
08:28It turns out that when you're able to reach out and dignify somebody's pain,
08:34people remember that a lot more than a 30-second ad played on a loop on television.
08:39And it turns out that when the people want something in this democracy of ours,
08:43the people can get that thing if we're willing to do the work of that.
08:47And that's exactly what Michiganders up and down the state showed.
08:5112,000 volunteers knocking nearly 10,000 doors a day
08:56to defeat an unprecedented amount of outside money, $70 million.
09:02But right now, as bitter and as divisive and as cynical as the campaign against us might have been,
09:10I want us to realize that there is so much more that unites us now.
09:15Because the campaign that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump
09:20and their GOP MAGA allies are launching is already more bitter.
09:26All you got to do is look at the ads.
09:27You're already watching on TV.
09:28Started today.
09:30You know, they think they want to use my whole name against me.
09:33Mike, listen, man.
09:34If you can't say the name, it's Abdurrahman.
09:36Keep the name out your damn mouth.
09:40I'll be happy to give you lessons.
09:45But they understand that the only way that they think they can win
09:49is to drag us into the mud,
09:51to believe the worst about each other,
09:53to believe that what divides us is bigger than what unites us.
09:57They want us to think that the reason some of us ain't got is because of other people got.
10:03But it turns out that the reason so many of us ain't got is because of the system that has
10:08corrupted our politics to take it away from us.
10:10And that is the thing that we are taking on now.
10:13That movement to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all.
10:17It is a big movement.
10:19So if you supported me or you did not support me,
10:21if you voted for Vice President Harris in 2024 or you voted for Donald Trump,
10:27if you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your groceries,
10:30if you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your home,
10:35if you believe like me that your tax dollars ought to be invested in you rather than sent somewhere else,
10:40if you believe like me that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is our
10:47birthright in this country,
10:48if you believe like me that we have a responsibility to stand up and walk with our union
10:54so that everybody has collected bargaining rights in this country,
10:57if you believe like me that you ought to have the guarantee of good health care in this country
11:03without some corporation trying to tell you what you cannot have and should not fight for,
11:08I hope that you'll join this movement now.
11:16I want to speak specifically to an issue that has been focused on in this race.
11:22To my Jewish American sisters and brothers,
11:25one of the most indelible memories of this campaign
11:30will have been the opportunity to break bread with you at Seder,
11:34to worship with you at shul,
11:37to be embraced by you.
11:42And listening to sisters and brothers who said,
11:45you know, I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn't speak for me.
11:48Because I understand that self-determination for one people
11:52does not require the quenching of self-determination for another people.
11:57That unless all of us are free, none of us are free,
12:01I want to tell you the great gift that you've given me.
12:04And to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith,
12:08or any faith at all, or no faith at all,
12:10I want you to know that my commitment to your safety,
12:13my commitment to Jewish safety,
12:15is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.
12:20Because if there is one question of a political philosophy
12:23that ought to animate us all is,
12:25what would we build, what would we do
12:27if we treated all of our kids like they were all of our kids?
12:32How would we spend our money?
12:34Where would we put our investment?
12:38How would we embrace one another?
12:40What kind of schools would we build?
12:42What kind of healthcare would we offer?
12:44What kind of jobs would we protect?
12:48And I say this because there could not be a greater contrast
12:52between that philosophy and the cynicism of Mike Rogers.
12:57See, Mike's a guy who spent 14 years in Congress
13:02with one goal,
13:03to figure out how to cash out the day he left.
13:06And guess what he did?
13:07As soon as he left Congress,
13:09after having taken corporate check,
13:12after corporate check,
13:13after corporate check,
13:14to empower the corporations to pick your pockets,
13:18he went and he cashed out.
13:19Not in Michigan.
13:20No.
13:21Winters are too cold for him.
13:23He's got thin skin after all.
13:27He went to Florida.
13:28So, Mike, if you want to be a Florida man,
13:30go be a Florida man.
13:31If you want to golf in Florida,
13:32go golf in Florida.
13:33But I promise you in November,
13:35we are going to send you back to Florida.
13:43Mike Rogers is the guy
13:44who wants to put a data center in your backyard
13:45so he can make himself feel a little bit more manly
13:48by making an AI video.
13:50Mike Rogers is the guy
13:51who has never shied away from a DTE check
13:54so he could turn his face in the direction of Florida.
13:57Mike Rogers is a guy
13:58who will do anything Blue Cross Blue Shield wants him to do,
14:01including raise your rates.
14:03Mike Rogers is a guy
14:04who introduced legislation
14:07to increase the flow of opioids.
14:09He did that while I was in high school.
14:12Mike Rogers is a guy
14:13whose politics and vision
14:15and perspective are old.
14:18Mike Rogers is a guy
14:20who has never shied away
14:22from a corporation
14:23he could do a favor for.
14:25Mike Rogers is a guy
14:28who, believe it or not,
14:29went back to Florida
14:30so he could lick every single boot
14:32Donald Trump owns
14:33to beg for his endorsement.
14:35I'm so sorry.
14:36If you want a senator
14:37who's going to lick some boots,
14:38fine, go vote for Mike Rogers.
14:39But if you want a senator
14:40who's going to stand up to Donald Trump,
14:42then you've got your option right here.
14:46And what's funny about Mike Rogers
14:48is that
14:50he's like the worst of all versions
14:53of the Republican Party.
14:55Right?
14:56He's the worst of the neocon version.
14:58I mean,
14:58he was in the House
15:00during the entirety of the Iraq War.
15:03He left because he got tired of it.
15:07And then he swore up and down
15:09he could never support Donald Trump
15:10until, of course,
15:11he was licking Donald Trump's boots.
15:12So now he carries
15:14the burden of both of those things.
15:16Is he MAGA?
15:17Is he neocon?
15:18Nah, man.
15:19He's just a corporate sellout.
15:21So,
15:24Mike,
15:24I'm going to say it right here.
15:25I know you're going to say no
15:26because you're a coward.
15:27Five debates.
15:28All right?
15:29If you're willing to stand with me
15:32and have a conversation,
15:33you and I both know
15:35that you will wither
15:36in front of your own crimes.
15:39But I'm going to make sure
15:40Michiganders know about them.
15:41Because at the time we're done,
15:43you are not going to have safe quarter
15:45from people holding you accountable
15:47to what you've done for them
15:48here in Michigan.
15:49We will send you back
15:50to Florida where you belong.
15:52Five debates.
15:53I'm hoping for an answer today.
15:55It's going to be a lot of fun, my guy.
15:59But I want to finish here
16:00because it's not about Mike Rogers.
16:02It's not even about Donald Trump.
16:03It is about who we are as a country.
16:08I worked in that building right there.
16:11In fact, you can see the window
16:12of my former office.
16:16And there are moments
16:17I had to pinch myself
16:21because my story in America
16:23is about as unlikely as it gets.
16:26But for an accident of history
16:28that allows my dad
16:28to immigrate to Detroit
16:30to go to Wayne State University,
16:32I was supposed to be a cab driver
16:33in Egypt like my cousins.
16:36I would spend a lot
16:37of my childhood summers in Egypt.
16:40I'd spend them there
16:41with a front row seat
16:43to what my life should have been.
16:46Except for I got to be born in America
16:49where I got vaccinated
16:50against diseases
16:51that killed an aunt and uncle
16:53I never got to meet.
16:54They died before their first birthday.
16:56I got to go to amazing public schools
16:58and incredible public university.
17:00I got my medical education paid for
17:03by a public agency at the NIH.
17:05That's what America gave me.
17:06Now, the crazy thing is
17:07I grew up not 20 minutes from here.
17:11And in traveling 20 minutes,
17:13I traveled a 10-year life expectancy gap.
17:16I got to meet kids
17:18who never got the opportunities I got
17:20despite the fact that their families
17:22had been here far longer than me.
17:24I know what America gave me,
17:25but I also know
17:26what America continues to deny
17:28too many of her own children.
17:30And a lot of my work
17:31in that building right there
17:32was about trying to address exactly that.
17:36And I kept running up against one thing.
17:39The kind of politics
17:40that tell us
17:42that we cannot invest in those children
17:44because we should be sending their money
17:46to deny rights to other children abroad.
17:49A politics that tells us
17:51that the corporations
17:52should do what they can
17:53and the rest of us do what we must.
17:56A politics that tells us
17:57that our democracy is there for the taking
18:00if you have enough money to take it.
18:03And so when the opportunity
18:04to run for U.S. Senate came up,
18:06I realized that this was a fight
18:07not just against Mike Rogers and Donald Trump,
18:10it was a fight for
18:11the kind of America
18:12that can give what I had
18:14to all of her children.
18:16That is the work in front of us.
18:20This country of ours,
18:22this America of ours
18:23is more than a flag,
18:24it's more than a set of colors.
18:25If you're a patriot,
18:28then you better fight
18:29for an America that is America
18:31for all of her kids.
18:33That's what this is about.
18:35Building a movement
18:36to take our democracy back
18:37to serve the people
18:38who absolutely deserve
18:40the best of what America
18:41has to offer them.
18:43That's the commitment
18:44all of us are making.
18:45So whether you voted for me
18:47or voted for my opponent
18:49or didn't vote at all,
18:51we're inviting you
18:52to that movement
18:53to get money out of politics
18:54so we can put money
18:55back in pockets
18:56and finally guarantee
18:57the promise of healthcare
18:58through Medicare for all.
19:00And I am so honored,
19:01so honored
19:02for all of the folks
19:03who've already invested,
19:05to all the folks who have,
19:06and I cannot wait
19:06to meet you
19:08and let's go with it in November.
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