{"id":36489,"date":"2026-08-10T13:25:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36489"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:25:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:25:57","slug":"el-sayed-calls-for-democratic-unity-as-michigan-senate-race-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36489","title":{"rendered":"El-Sayed calls for Democratic unity as Michigan Senate race heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/07\/Election_2_26_Michigan_32876_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Don\u2019t miss the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/9\/abdul-el-sayed-stresses-democratic-unity-michigan-senate-race-aims\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">full story<\/a> from our staff writers, whose reportage is the basis of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed shifted into general-election mode Sunday, emphasizing party unity after a bruising primary victory over Rep. Haley Stevens that exposed deep rifts between the Democratic establishment and its progressive wing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe differences that we hashed out are so much smaller than the similarities that we share,\u201d El-Sayed said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed has reached out to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer to smooth over tensions after calling for his removal as party leader during the primary campaign. He has also spoken with former President Barack Obama as he works to consolidate support ahead of November.<\/p>\n<p>The nominee is now courting centrists and independents after campaigning on primary positions viewed as too extreme for the general electorate, including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cutting off military aid to Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking on journalist Kara Swisher\u2019s podcast, said El-Sayed and other progressive Democrats should reconcile with centrist Democrats \u201cthat they were vilifying online.\u201d Clinton added that she hopes candidates who perform well on camera can also \u201cproduce results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed expressed confidence he can defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former congressman, and said he is already looking ahead to a potential Democratic Senate majority, calling for the party to use subpoena power to investigate whether Trump administration officials used policies for personal enrichment.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Rogers, meanwhile, is actively courting disaffected Democratic voters, saying in a public appeal that Michigan voters who reject \u201canger, divisiveness\u201d and \u201ccalls for violence\u201d have \u201ca home with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, said he wants Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to testify before Congress over his handling of public health matters, including a recent lettuce-linked outbreak. He also called for tax reform benefiting lower-income Americans over wealthy taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>While El-Sayed does not identify as a socialist, he aligns with Sen. Bernard Sanders\u2019 push for \u201cMedicare for all,\u201d acknowledging the Senate filibuster\u2019s 60-vote threshold as a practical obstacle. He said restoring expanded Obamacare subsidies could serve as an interim step.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats to retake the majority, making Michigan\u2019s open seat \u2014 held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters \u2014 pivotal. California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned in Michigan Sunday for down-ballot candidates and said he would meet El-Sayed Monday, calling the Senate majority fight dependent on holding the state.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/9\/abdul-el-sayed-stresses-democratic-unity-michigan-senate-race-aims\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Read more: Abdul El-Sayed stresses Democratic unity in Michigan Senate race, aims to hold Trump \u2019accountable\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/9\/el-sayed-calls-democratic-unity-michigan-senate-race-heats\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/9\/el-sayed-calls-democratic-unity-michigan-senate-race-heats\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t miss the full story from our staff writers, whose reportage is the basis of this article. Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed shifted into general-election mode Sunday, emphasizing party unity after a bruising primary victory over Rep. Haley Stevens that exposed deep rifts between the Democratic establishment and its progressive wing. \u201cThe differences that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/07\/Election_2_26_Michigan_32876_c0-296-7115-4446_s1200x700.jpg?40fbf9b1f8e79e0db4a85cc29d271df47c373d04","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}