Abdul El-Sayed has become one of the most closely watched political figures in the United States ahead of the November 3, 2026, midterm elections, with President Donald Trump repeatedly targeting the Michigan Democrat during the closing weeks of the campaign.
El-Sayed is a physician, epidemiologist, former public health official and Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan. He is running against Republican former congressman Mike Rogers, a Trump ally, for the seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
Trump’s criticism has gone far beyond normal disagreements over healthcare, taxes or foreign policy. He has repeatedly focused on El-Sayed’s Muslim faith, accused him of links to the Muslim Brotherhood and described him as a “jihadist.”
However, independent reporting and fact-checking have found no evidence that El-Sayed has been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or advocated violent jihad.
So, who exactly is Abdul El-Sayed, and why has his campaign attracted so much attention from Trump?
Who is Abdul El-Sayed?
Abdul El-Sayed was born and raised in southeastern Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents.
He trained as a physician and epidemiologist and built much of his professional career around public health.
El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a doctorate in public health. He also received his medical degree from Columbia University.
Before becoming a prominent political figure, he worked as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University.
He later returned to Michigan and became executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department. He was appointed to help rebuild the city’s health department following Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy and became one of the youngest health officials running a major American city’s health department.
El-Sayed subsequently led Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services. His public-health work included initiatives involving medical debt, air-quality monitoring and healthcare access.
This is Not El-Sayed’s First Major Political Campaign
El-Sayed first attracted significant national political attention when he ran for governor of Michigan in 2018.
He campaigned as a progressive and received support from figures including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
However, he lost the Democratic primary to Gretchen Whitmer.
He later remained active in progressive politics, public health and political commentary.
In 2026, El-Sayed returned to electoral politics by running for the U.S. Senate.
He narrowly defeated U.S. Representative Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary on August 4. El-Sayed received approximately 48.5% of the vote compared with Stevens’ 47.5%.
His victory placed him in a nationally important general-election contest against Republican Mike Rogers.
Why is the Michigan Senate Race So Important?
The political importance of the race helps explain why Trump has become personally involved.
Michigan’s Senate seat is currently held by Democrat Gary Peters, who decided not to seek another term.
Republicans entered the 2026 election cycle controlling the Senate. Therefore, Democrats need to hold Michigan while also gaining Republican-held seats if they want to regain control of the chamber.
For Republicans, defeating El-Sayed would mean flipping a Democratic-held Senate seat.
Trump has consequently campaigned alongside Rogers and made defeating El-Sayed a prominent part of his Michigan appearances.
The contest has therefore become much more than a personal dispute between Trump and El-Sayed. It is also part of a broader battle over control of the U.S. Senate.
El-Sayed’s Politics Are Very Different From Trump’s
There are genuine and substantial policy differences between Trump and El-Sayed.
El-Sayed comes from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
He has campaigned for policies including Medicare for All, stronger restrictions on corporate influence in politics and expanded government involvement in healthcare.
He has received support from leading progressive politicians, including Bernie Sanders.
El-Sayed has also taken positions on U.S. foreign policy that put him sharply at odds with many Republicans, particularly regarding Israel.
He has called for ending U.S. military assistance to Israel, making the issue one of the major dividing lines during his Senate campaign.
These policy disagreements provide one conventional political explanation for Trump’s opposition.
However, Trump’s rhetoric has increasingly focused not simply on El-Sayed’s policies but on his Muslim identity and alleged extremist connections.
Trump Has Accused El-Sayed of Being a ‘Jihadist’
The confrontation escalated significantly during Trump’s October 25 campaign rally in Port Huron, Michigan.
Trump told supporters that he had come to Michigan to prevent what he called a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member” from becoming a U.S. senator.
He also portrayed El-Sayed as a national-security threat and suggested that he could not be trusted with classified information.
Trump invoked the September 11, 2001, attacks while discussing El-Sayed and suggested that stopping him from entering the Senate was comparable to Americans resisting terrorists.
He also said El-Sayed wanted the United States governed under Sharia law.
These allegations attracted considerable attention because El-Sayed would become the first Muslim U.S. senator if elected.
Is El-Sayed Actually a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood?
There is currently no evidence establishing that El-Sayed is or has been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed has repeatedly denied belonging to the organization and has publicly disavowed it.
PolitiFact investigated Trump’s allegation and found no evidence that El-Sayed had been a Muslim Brotherhood member or advocated violence to advance Islam. It rated Trump’s claim that El-Sayed was a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member” false at its strongest rating.
The Associated Press similarly reported that there is no evidence showing El-Sayed has an affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
So where did the allegation come from?
El-Sayed’s Family Background Has Become Part of the Campaign
Republicans have pointed to old social-media posts written by El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi.
In 2012, she wrote that her family had longstanding connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and referred to their mother’s involvement with the movement during the early 1970s.
El-Sayed has rejected efforts to connect those statements to him.
His parents separated when he was a young child, and he was raised primarily by his father and stepmother rather than his biological mother.
When questioned about the issue in October, El-Sayed said he had never had conversations with his mother about the Muslim Brotherhood and again stated that he had no connection to the organization.
A relative’s alleged political involvement, in any case, does not establish that El-Sayed himself belonged to the organization.
Republicans Have Also Focused on a 2012 Statement About Egypt
Another source of controversy involves a statement El-Sayed signed during the political upheaval in Egypt in 2012.
Mohamed Morsi, who was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, had become Egypt’s first democratically elected president following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
El-Sayed joined dozens of Egyptian Americans in signing a statement supporting some of Morsi’s actions during the constitutional crisis.
The document supported Morsi’s temporary assumption of expanded powers while a new constitution was being developed and included controversial language calling for the “purging” of the media and police.
Trump and other Republicans have cited the statement as evidence that El-Sayed supported the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, experts interviewed by PolitiFact said support for Morsi during that specific political conflict did not establish membership in or general allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed had also previously supported the broader Egyptian pro-democracy uprising against Mubarak.
Hasan Piker Has Become Another Flashpoint
El-Sayed’s association with political streamer Hasan Piker has also become part of Republican attacks.
Piker appeared with El-Sayed multiple times during the Democratic primary campaign, including around his primary victory.
Piker has generated controversy for comments concerning the September 11 attacks, Israel, Hamas and Jewish people.
Trump highlighted the relationship during his attacks on El-Sayed.
However, appearing alongside Piker does not mean every statement made by the streamer represents El-Sayed’s own position.
The association has nevertheless given Republicans another avenue for challenging El-Sayed over national security and Middle East policy.
El-Sayed Has Faced Controversy Over His Own Comments
Not every controversy surrounding El-Sayed comes from unsupported allegations.
He faced criticism earlier in 2026 following an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area.
While discussing the incident and the attacker’s circumstances, El-Sayed used the phrase “hurt people hurt people.”
Critics argued that the comment appeared to rationalize or minimize the synagogue attack.
El-Sayed later apologized, saying that he had not intended to justify what happened and was sorry to anyone hurt by his comments.
His positions regarding Israel have also caused tension within the Democratic Party.
The issue contributed to divisions during his primary battle with Haley Stevens and remains one of the areas where Republican opponents have focused their criticism.
Trump’s Sharia Law Claim Has Also Been Challenged
Trump has repeatedly suggested that El-Sayed wants Islamic Sharia law imposed in the United States.
There is no evidence that El-Sayed is campaigning to replace American law with Islamic religious law.
El-Sayed has stated his support for constitutional protections for religious freedom.
PolitiFact found that Trump’s claims about El-Sayed supporting Sharia government distorted El-Sayed’s previous statements.
That distinction matters because being a practicing Muslim does not itself imply support for establishing Islamic law as state law.
Why Does Trump Keep Calling Him ‘Mohammed’?
Trump has also repeatedly played with or deliberately altered El-Sayed’s name during campaign appearances.
El-Sayed’s full name includes Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, but he campaigns professionally as Abdul El-Sayed.
Trump has repeatedly referred to him using variations involving “Mohammed” while discussing his Muslim identity and alleged extremist affiliations.
El-Sayed has responded by accusing Trump of attempting to make his name and religion politically threatening.
After Trump’s Port Huron rally, El-Sayed joked to supporters that Trump could simply call him “senator” if he won the election.
El-Sayed Says Trump is Trying to Distract Voters
El-Sayed argues that Trump’s attacks on his faith are designed to divert attention from issues such as healthcare, fuel prices, groceries and the broader cost of living.
Following Trump’s October rally, El-Sayed described the accusations as unsupported “deflections and deceptions.”
Bernie Sanders, who has campaigned for El-Sayed, has made a similar argument, accusing Republicans of focusing on religion rather than economic issues.
Trump and Republicans, by contrast, have portrayed their criticism as involving national security, El-Sayed’s associations, his past statements and his foreign-policy positions.
Even Some Trump Allies Have Objected to the Rhetoric
Trump’s comments have also drawn criticism from some Arab-American figures who previously supported him.
The Associated Press reported that Bishara Bahbah, founder of Arab Americans for Trump, condemned Trump’s rhetoric after the Port Huron rally.
That reaction is particularly notable because Michigan has one of the largest Arab-American populations in the United States.
Trump made significant gains among Arab-American and Muslim voters during the 2024 presidential election, particularly amid dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s approach to the Gaza war.
The El-Sayed controversy has therefore created tensions within a constituency where Trump had recently made political gains.
Why Trump and El-Sayed Are Really Fighting
There is no single explanation for the conflict.
At one level, it is straightforward electoral politics.
Trump strongly supports Republican Mike Rogers, while El-Sayed stands between Rogers and a Senate seat that could influence control of the chamber.
At another level, El-Sayed represents a political agenda that is fundamentally opposed to Trump’s on healthcare, immigration, government spending, foreign policy and Israel.
El-Sayed is also closely associated with the progressive wing of American politics, while Trump has spent years presenting progressive Democrats as political adversaries.
But the dispute has developed an additional dimension because Trump has repeatedly made El-Sayed’s Muslim faith and identity part of his argument against him.
Some controversies surrounding El-Sayed are based on real events that voters can evaluate, including his positions on Israel, the 2012 Morsi statement, appearances with Hasan Piker and his subsequently apologized-for comments following the synagogue attack.
Those issues are separate, however, from the claims that he is a Muslim Brotherhood member, jihadist or advocate for imposing Sharia law. Available evidence does not substantiate those allegations.
What Happens Next?
El-Sayed and Rogers face voters in Michigan on November 3, 2026.
As of November 2, the contest is one of the country’s most consequential Senate races because Democrats are attempting to defend Gary Peters’ seat while Republicans are seeking to expand their Senate majority.
El-Sayed would make history as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate if he wins.
Whatever the outcome, his candidacy has already turned Michigan into a national debate over progressive politics, Israel, Muslim-American political representation, national security rhetoric and the boundaries of religious attacks in American election campaigns.
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