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Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official running on a progressive, anti-establishment platform, is one of two contenders in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday.
Here are five things to know about Dr. El-Sayed, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., who, if elected in November, would become the first Muslim senator. He is running to replace Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring.
1. He is supported by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Dr. El-Sayed has generated a deep well of left-wing support. He supports universal health care, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ending U.S. aid to Israel. He is a vocal critic of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He is backed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and other left-wing leaders. But Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who is selective about intervening in Democratic primaries, is perhaps Dr. El-Sayed’s most important backer. Citing his communication skills, she says Dr. El-Sayed is more electable than his rival, Representative Haley Stevens. The Democratic establishment argues she is a better general election candidate, pointing to her centrist positions. He has separated himself from some of his progressive supporters by saying he is a capitalist, not a socialist.
2. He’s known for his rhetorical skill and his sharp personal attacks. Dr. El-Sayed, a former podcaster and CNN commentator, is a smooth communicator. Ms. Stevens has acknowledged he is a “talented guy” but has cast him as a “celebrity candidate.” In an interview, Dr. El-Sayed described the attack line as “odd,” and recalled his work in “the bowels of city government and Wayne County government.” Dr. El-Sayed also throws rhetorical punches. He has suggested Ms. Stevens has neither a “personality” nor a “message,” and he has dismissed her as the “least capable candidate in America.”
3. He ran for governor in 2018. Dr. El-Sayed tried to use a similar message that year, and he was also backed by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. But he was handily defeated by Gretchen Whitmer, a moderate Democrat who went on to win the general election. Ms. Whitmer, now in her second term as governor, has endorsed Ms. Stevens. In an interview, Dr. El-Sayed said his message in 2018 was “a little bit premature for most folks.” That message, he added, was that Donald J. Trump’s victory in 2016 was not a “cosmic mistake” but a natural backlash to a political system “rigged” against Americans. But now, Dr. El-Sayed argued, Democratic voters are “looking for fighters who are going to stand up not just to the worst symptom of the disease”
4. He drew scrutiny by campaigning with a provocative streamer. Dr. El-Sayed has been joined on the trail by the popular streamer Hasan Piker, a critic of the Israeli government who has made incendiary comments. Jewish organizations and some Democrats have accused Mr. Piker of antisemitism (he rejects the claim), and some Democrats assailed Dr. El-Sayed for campaigning with him. Dr. El-Sayed responded by saying that Mr. Piker “speaks to an audience that too few Democrats are listening to or speaking to” and that Democrats “should have learned more lessons from the cancel culture wars.”
5. He is the son of Egyptian immigrants. Dr. El-Sayed was born in Michigan, and his first language was Arabic. As a youth, he struggled to fit in. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he was called anti-Arab slurs. On the campaign trail, he speaks of America’s promise and flaws. “I know what America can do for somebody,” he said at one rally. “I just know that too often America does not do that for too many of her kids.”
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