314 Action Fund congratulates Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on his victory in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, defeating Republican nominee Mike Rogers. An epidemiologist and former Detroit health director, Dr. El-Sayed joins Senator-elect Dr. Annie Andrews (D-SC) as the first pair Democratic doctors elected to serve in the U.S. Senate in nearly 60 years. In response, 314 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton released the following statement:
“Michigan just sent an epidemiologist to the United States Senate,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President of 314 Action. “Dr. El-Sayed has spent his career rebuilding public health systems that politicians left for dead, and now he takes that work to Washington while RFK Jr. tears down the agencies that keep American families safe. Michiganders turned Mike Rogers away for the second time in two years. This win secures a must-win seat for Democrats and proves doctors and scientists can win the toughest races in the country.
“Michigan families are watching Medicaid cuts and rising premiums put care out of reach, and tonight they sent someone to the Senate who has actually fixed a broken health system,” Naughton continued. “314 Action was proud to endorse Dr. El-Sayed in July, and tonight we celebrate with him and every Michigander who voted for science.”
Born and raised in Michigan, Dr. El-Sayed earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, a medical degree from Columbia and a doctorate from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He took over Detroit’s Health Department in the wake of the city’s bankruptcy and rebuilt it, removing lead from the city’s elementary schools and getting free eyeglasses to kids. He later led Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services, serving 1.8 million residents, where he spearheaded a program to cancel up to $700 million in medical debt for 300,000 Michiganders.
As an epidemiologist and physician, Dr. El-Sayed is a Guardians of Public Health candidate, and his election advances 314 Action’s work to elect 100 new doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals to office by 2030.