In his first media appearance since being declared the winner of Tuesday's primary for the Democratic nomination to Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, Abdul El-Sayed spoke kindly of his primary opponent Haley Stevens, made an outreach to Jewish people and went on the attack against his Republican opponent in November, Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed, 41, spoke late Wednesday morning, Aug. 5, to dozens of reporters gathered near the Spirit of Detroit statue in downtown Detroit outside City Hall.
“What a race," he said. "In the words of Mohammed Ali, we shook up the world.”
He was introduced by Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, who dropped out of the primary race for the open U.S Senate seat in early
July. They both called for Democrats to move past the hard-fought primary election and to unify and support El-Sayed in the November election.
“I know this was a long and brutal primary," McMorrow said. "But what is most important now is that we recognize that for all of the differences we may have had in this primary, that those differences pale in comparison to the contrast that we face in November.”
Earlier in the morning, multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press, declared El-Sayed the winner in the primary over U.S. Rep. Stevens by a narrow 1% margin. The Michigan race was one of the most closely watched in the nation, with President Trump criticizing El-Sayed on social media and calling him "a communist" soon after the results were in. (El-Sayed has said throughout the campaign that he is a capitalist.)
El-Sayed said he spoke with Stevens earlier Wednesday morning and that they had "a great conversation."
"I know it was a bitter end to this very long primary, but I also know that Haley brings the best of herself to her work, she is one of the most committed public servants that you’ll ever meet," El-Sayed said. "She loves democracy like I love democracy, and whatever differences that we might have had in the primary, they pale in comparison to what unifies us.”
El-Sayed went on to thank his family, supporters and those who endorsed him, including the United Auto Workers union. He also gave a shout-out to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, a Democratic socialist who supported El-Sayed in the Senate primary as well as his unsuccessful candidacy for Michigan governor in 2018.
He also had kind words about McMorrow and the campaign she cut short.
"You fought to end the corporate corruption in our politics. You took on the power of AIPAC," El-Sayed said, referring to the influential pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "You were willing to speak truth to a level of power that sometimes is unbeatable, and I just want to say thank you.”
El-Sayed also took a moment to savor and reflect on his campaign's victory, which came after being outspent heavily by supporters of Stevens.
"We took on a machine," he said. "You are not supposed to beat $70 million of outside spending — a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign — you are not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.”
El-Sayed went on to voice a special thanks to his campaign's Jewish supporters.
Stevens and others had accused El-Sayed of hostility to Jews, including in a July 30 post on X addressed to him, in which she said that "everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans."
“To my Jewish sisters and brothers," El-Sayed said Wednesday, "one of the most indelible memories of this campaign will have been the opportunity to break bread with you at seder, to worship with you at shul, to be embraced by you.
"And listening to sisters and brothers who said, 'You know, I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn’t speak for me. Because I understand that self-determination for one people does not require the quenching of self-determination for another people. That unless all of us are free, none of us are free. I want to tell you the great gift that you’ve given me.”
El-Sayed then shifted into attack mode on his Republican opponent and challenged Rogers to five debates before the November election. Among other things, he accused Rogers of pro-corporate leanings, of groveling for Trump's endorsement and of being “the worst of all versions of the Republican party."
He also criticized him for moving to Florida after leaving the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015. Rogers moved back to Michigan in 2023.
"I promise you in November, we are going to send you back to Florida," El-Sayed said.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @JCReindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Abdul El-Sayed addresses primary victory, says 'we shook up the world'
