On a brisk February afternoon, Abdul El-Sayed addressed a crowd in Detroit’s Eastern Market. His decision to announce his candidacy to be Michigan’s next governor in the city’s farmer’s market was purposeful. “My father immigrated here from a coastal town in Egypt: Alexandria. His father used to sell tomatoes in the fish market. His mother raised six kids in a one-bedroom apartment,” said El-Sayed as he live-streamed the announcement via Facebook, an approach he often takes to address current events. “When he came here as a student at Wayne State University he would come to this market to buy the foods to make the dishes that would make him feel at home. This market for him brought him back to Alexandria right here in Detroit… I’m the son of two proud Egyptian Americans. They immigrated here for search of a better life.”
By: Eli Newman – Detroit – The Yemeni American News
Growing up in Bloomfield Hills, Abdul El-Sayed said he’s learned a lot from his parent’s experiences. “Their story has taught me that Americans can come together despite their differences to aspire towards a better future,” El-Sayed told the Yemeni American News via email. “My parents immigrated here from Egypt and divorced and both remarried. I was raised in a half-Egyptian, half-White household where I saw the day-to-day benefits of diversity. We are bigger than our differences, and stronger because of them.” For El-Sayed, the fact that he’s a practicing Muslim is only an aspect of his story. “I am running to be the governor of Michigan. Islam is one part of my identity – an important part, but just one part,” El-Sayed said. “For me, being Governor of Michigan means standing up for all Americans and aspiring towards the ideals of America as being a place big enough for everyone.”
Attending the University of Michigan, El-Sayed earned honors while pursuing a dual bachelors degree in both political science and biology. He also served as the vice-president of the Muslim Students’ Association and was a starting defensemen on the Michigan Men’s Lacrosse team. Graduating with the class of 2007, El-Sayed gave the student commencement address alongside former President Bill Clinton.
Following his undergraduate studies, El-Sayed pursued the first half of an MD at the University of Michigan Medical School and earned a PhD in epidemiology at Michigan’s School of Public Health. After two years, El-Sayed entered the Rhodes Scholarship program at the University of Oxford in England. He eventually finished his medical degree from Columbia Uni
versity in New York, where he would continue to work as faculty in the Mailman School of Public Health.
Ultimately, El-Sayed found his calling in Detroit. During the city’s emergency management, the Detroit Health Department was privatized, a first for a major American city. When Mayor Mike Duggan took office, he contacted El-Sayed to lead the department as it returned to the public sphere. At 30-years-old, El-Sayed became Health Officer and Executive Director of the Detroit Health Department in 2015, making him one of the youngest in his field to hold the position in the U.S. He spent his time growing the department and advocating for the health of Detroiters, actively speaking out against an expansion of the Marathon refinery in Southwest Detroit that would increase sulfur dioxide emissions. El-Sayed left his position in Detroit to run for governor. “There are a lot of talented people here who are driven to careers in public service,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. “Abdul is pursuing his dream and I wish him the best.”
El-Sayed says his background makes him the best candidate in the Democratic field. “I am a doctor, an educator, and a public servant; I’m also a millennial and come from a family that represents all aspects of the diversity of this state. A sustainable economy that keeps young talent at home, a quality public education system, and public health – these are places where State government is failing poor and working people across our state,” El-Sayed said. “I am uniquely positioned to understand and solve Michigan’s problems. I don’t come from a family with political connections, or from big money. Instead, my work is driven by a core belief in people. This led me to directly engage with the communities that government serves, rather than raise my hand in the legislature. [Recently], we faced the possibility of hundreds of thousands of Michiganders losing their healthcare. As the Health Commissioner of Detroit, that would’ve been the majority of people in my city. Those are people who I know personally, and who I served as Health Commissioner and who I will serve as Governor. And so, for me, these issues are very real.”
El-Sayed’s political campaign has billed itself as progressive within the Democratic field, with priorities set on promoting Michigan businesses that work within the communities they employ, protecting the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (often referred to as “Obamacare”), and an emphasis on maintaining public education in the state. “Our state cannot stand another four years of leadership by people who fundamentally don’t understand the challenges that this state faces. ‘Government as business’ is what allows crises like Flint to happen, and what leads us to disinvest from our schools – and our children’s futures,” El-Sayed said. “I believe in Government for people, and by people. That’s what Michigan needs right now, and given my work as a doctor, an educator, and a public servant and my connection to so many parts of our state, I am standing up for working people.”
