Abdul El-Sayed
Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is an American epidemiology professor, public health administrator, and politician who is the United States senator-elect from the state of Michigan. Upon taking office, El-Sayed wil be the first Muslim senator in U.S. history.
Born and raised in southeast Michigan, El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in public health. He then earned his medical degree from Columbia University and became an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He was the executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017, and from 2023 to 2025 he served as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services.
A progressive Democrat, El-Sayed defeated U.S. representative Haley Stevens in the 2026 Michigan Democratic Senate primary. He defeated Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election, becoming the first Muslim American elected to the United States Senate.
Born and raised in southeast Michigan, El-Sayed graduated from the University of Michigan and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in public health. He then earned his medical degree from Columbia University and became an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He was the executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017, and from 2023 to 2025 he served as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services.
A progressive Democrat, El-Sayed defeated U.S. representative Haley Stevens in the 2026 Michigan Democratic Senate primary. He defeated Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election, becoming the first Muslim American elected to the United States Senate.
