Abdul El-Sayed

Deep Dive

El-Sayed, Detroit's former health director, won the August 4, 2026 Democratic Senate primary and faces Republican Mike Rogers on November 3. He has no federal voting record; his positions are stated, repeated, and central to his campaign.

On the aid itself he has been direct. In 2025 he said he had been clear "from the very jump" that U.S. tax dollars should not subsidize foreign militaries, weapons "offensive" and "defensive" alike, and that he applies the same rule to Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as to the government of Israel. In May 2026 he told a crowd in Detroit that unconditional foreign military aid "should be illegal". On U.S. aid to Palestinians, his platform backs funding for UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees: "That’s why I support immediate re-investment in foreign aid, including to UNRWA." Whether Gaza is a genocide is, he has said, "a moral Rorschach test": "If you can’t identify the systematic murder of tens of thousands of kids as a genocide and then you wanna say you’re a fighter for human rights and dignity, that’s just hypocrisy."

In April 2026 he told CNN that both Hamas and the Israeli government are evil, saying "Killing tens of thousands of people makes you pretty damn evil", and per Jewish Insider's reporting he called Netanyahu a war criminal responsible for genocide. On Israel's "right to exist" he has said the real question is whether Israel has "a right to our tax dollars". At a Fox 2 debate on September 15, 2026, which Rogers declined to attend, he said he believes in "equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike," and Fox 2 reported that he did not support spending tax dollars abroad "to drop bombs on other people".

He pairs this with a stated line against antisemitism. At a Detroit rally in May 2026 he said "AIPAC and Israel are not the same as Judaism and the Jewish people", and he warned against redefining antisemitism "to include a foreign government and its leaders," calling that the "single most dangerous thing" the pro-Israel lobby has tried to tell voters. After the March 2026 attack on Temple Israel he said "Nothing justifies the heinous attack" but added that "hurt people do hurt people"; in August 2026 he told Jewish Democrats "I made a mistake", as the New York Times reported, and that his condemnation "just should have been the full stop." After the primary an AIPAC spokesperson told Axios the group would be "looking at every option" to make the case that his policies are "bad for Michigan and bad for America."

The record

• Published a campaign platform that commits, in writing, to 'an immediate arms embargo on Israel,' to rejecting the offensive/defensive weapons distinction, to 'immediate and comprehensive enforcement of U.S. laws that condition the provision of military aid and sales,' to opposing 'direct blank-check funding to foreign militaries–including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others,' and to 'immediate re-investment in foreign aid, including to UNRWA.' The same page states he stands against state efforts to 'stamp out or intimidate peaceful protest, including the freedom to boycott.'

• Publicly backed Sen. Bernie Sanders' July/August 2025 Senate proposal to block the sale of $675 million in bombs and 20,000 automatic firearms to the government of Israel, a proposal the Senate rejected. The Midwesterner reported he was 'the only Senate candidate in Michigan to advocate for an end to all military aid for U.S. allies,' contrasting him with McMorrow (offensive weapons only, keep Iron Dome) and Stevens and Republican Mike Rogers (both offensive and defensive).

• Went beyond the then-standard progressive position by opposing U.S. sales of missile-interceptor systems, including Iron Dome, to the government of Israel, as his spokesperson told Jewish Currents in April 2026, at a time when his own primary opponents favored continued Iron Dome funding.

• On 2026-07-15 issued a campaign press release attacking primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens for voting No on Rep. Thomas Massie's amendment to H.R. 8595, which would have eliminated the $3.3 billion in annual U.S. Foreign Military Financing for Israel (House Roll Call 243) and which the release describes as 'an amendment that would have blocked unconditional military aid to Israel.' The release ties her vote to AIPAC's super PAC United Democracy Project, which it says had spent over $30 million on ads supporting her, and to her two American Israel Education Foundation-sponsored trips to Israel (2019 and 2023).

• Runs on a pledge to refuse corporate and special-interest campaign money: 'I'm the only candidate running for U.S. Senate in Michigan that has never taken a dime of corporate money–and never will.'

The money

Targeted with $20.1M by PACs we track that support U.S. weapons funding for the government of Israel (2026); no direct support from them in any cycle they have filed

In their words

Jewish Voice for Peace Action (the political arm of the Jewish anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace) · USCPR Action (US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action) · Peace Action PAC · Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) and former Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), individual endorsers · A New Policy PAC (2026 endorsement) · Track AIPAC (2026 endorsement)

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

Our research for this card began on 2026-08-14 and was brought up to date on 2026-09-26, when every page linked below was opened and read unless the entry says otherwise. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. El-Sayed has never held federal office, so none of the votes this site tracks is his. The tracked funding figures are shown as badges on this card and are not restated here.

U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel

• [Position, 2025-08-14] The Midwesterner: "we don’t pay our tax dollars here to subsidize foreign militaries generally"; "that includes offensive, that includes defensive, let’s just be clear, weapons of all sorts". The report ties the first to his July 2025 comments to The Detroit News and the second to an interview with Current Affairs, in which he also said: "I say that about Israel, I say that about Egypt, where my family immigrated from. I say that about Jordan, I say that about Saudi Arabia."
• [Position, 2026-05-21] Christian Science Monitor, reporting a stump speech in Detroit: "I think unconditional foreign military aid should be illegal." In the same speech he said taxpayer money should not go to "a country committing apartheid, at minimum genocide, over the past two years and counting".
• [Position, platform read 2026-09-26] His platform's Sensible Foreign Policy section: "That’s why I oppose direct blank-check funding to foreign militaries–including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others." And: "I support immediate and comprehensive enforcement of U.S. laws that condition the provision of military aid and sales. And I support an immediate arms embargo on Israel and reject the false differentiation between “offensive” and “defensive” weapons." The page carries no publication date.
• [Position, 2026-08-05] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that in his primary victory speech he repeated his pledge to move the money the United States spends on defense assistance to Israel to domestic priorities, and quoted him: "I kept running up against one thing: the kind of politics that tell us that we cannot invest in those children because we should be sending their money to deny rights to other children abroad".
• [Position, 2026-09-15] Fox 2's debate report, which Mike Rogers declined to attend. Asked about a two-state solution, he said: "I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike". Fox 2 reports that he did not support spending tax dollars "abroad to drop bombs on other people."
• [Position, 2026-08-06, reported] A CNN interview with Kaitlan Collins after the primary, posted as video (CNN on Facebook) and in YouTube clips. It could not be watched for this page, so nothing from it is quoted. Summaries of it have him naming Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia alongside Israel; the pages that quote him directly name Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
• [Position, 2026-08-06] The Nation, in an opinion piece by the political director of USCPR Action (the political arm of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, which endorsed him), describes his platform as centering "an end to US military funding to Israel". The piece quotes him on the genocide question (below) without saying where he said it.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

• [Position, platform read 2026-09-26] His platform's Sensible Foreign Policy section: "Helping to diminish deprivation and disease abroad isn’t just charity, it’s important for our own safety and prosperity. That’s why I support immediate re-investment in foreign aid, including to UNRWA." UNRWA is the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

Characterization of the conflict

• [Position, 2026-09-15] At the Fox 2 debate: "We saw the attack on October 7th. We saw the genocide that followed thereafter. I believe deeply that every child in the Holy Land, Palestinian or Jewish, deserves to grow up without worrying about whether or not their life is going to be upended by war or apartheid or genocide or terrorism." (Fox 2)
• [Position, 2026-08-06] Quoted in The Nation: "This is a moral Rorschach test. If you can’t identify the systematic murder of tens of thousands of kids as a genocide and then you wanna say you’re a fighter for human rights and dignity, that’s just hypocrisy."
• [Position, 2026-04-19] Jewish Insider, on a CNN interview that aired that day: "Killing tens of thousands of people makes you pretty damn evil." Jewish Insider reports (its words, not a quotation) that he believes Netanyahu is a war criminal responsible for a genocide.
• [Position, 2026-07/08, reported] Called Israel a "rogue state" and the Gaza campaign a "horrific genocide" and "apartheid" in debates and appearances. No page carrying these words was found, so they stay here.
• [Position, 2026-07-24] On Israel's "right to exist", Washington Monthly, in a critical column, quotes him from a Pod Save America interview: "The question about Israel isn’t about the theoretical right to exist of a country that exists. The question about Israel is, do they have a right to our tax dollars?" and "I believe in equal rights, to peace, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike." A Forward opinion piece on the same point could not be opened.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

• [Position, 2026-08-04/06] He won the primary after United Democracy Project, AIPAC's super PAC, spent against him, per FEC filings; the total shows as this card's money badge. The Nation's "around $30 million from AIPAC alone" is its count of outside spending for his chief rival, Haley Stevens (The Nation, Guardian, CBC, JTA, Jewish Exponent/AP).
• [Position, 2026-08-22] Newsweek reported, citing Axios, that Rogers's campaign asked AIPAC not to run ads against El-Sayed. An AIPAC spokesperson told Axios: "Our members are highly motivated to be involved in this race, and we will be looking at every option to make the case that El-Sayed's policies are bad for Michigan and bad for America."
• [Position, 2026-04-19] Called for Sen. Van Hollen to replace Sen. Schumer as Democratic leader; JI ties this to Schumer's support for aid (the outlet's characterization).
• [Position, 2026-04, reported] Defended campaigning with streamer Hasan Piker, dismissing criticism as "cancel culture."
• [Position, 2026-08-09] General-election unity dynamics (Washington Post); [2026-08-13] accused Rogers of "hiding behind" attacks (WFMD).

Safety and antisemitism (context)

• [Position, 2026-05-04] At a Sunday rally in Detroit on Sen. Bernie Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy tour, as Common Dreams reported: "AIPAC and Israel are not the same as Judaism and the Jewish people", and, of the pro-Israel lobby, "The single most dangerous thing that they’ve tried to tell us is somehow they can extend the definition of antisemitism to include a foreign government and its leaders".
• [Position, 2026, reported] Repeatedly condemned antisemitism while distinguishing Jewish people from the Israeli government and from lobbying organizations; rejects the claim that criticizing AIPAC or the Israeli government is anti-Jewish hostility.
• [Position, 2026-04-08] After the March 2026 attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Jewish Insider quotes him at a press conference: "Nothing justifies the heinous attack that we saw on Temple Israel," and "I also think it’s just critical for us to understand that hurt people do hurt people, and the circumstances happening 6,000 miles away can affect the lives that we live here, and if we stand against violence, we’ve got to stand against violence, all violence."
• [Position, 2026-08-29] WLNS reported, citing the New York Times, that at a party convention he apologized to the Michigan Jewish Caucus for that remark: "I made a mistake. I should have issued a statement, of course condemning it, and it just should have been the full stop."
• The JDCA's piece on his challenge with Jewish voters is a critical advocacy source; recorded as context.

The race

• El-Sayed (D), Mike Rogers (R), Douglas P. Marsh (G), Lydia Christensen (L), Walter Kristy (Natural Law Party) and Timothy Long (U.S. Taxpayers Party) are running in the general election on November 3, 2026, per Ballotpedia's race page.