By Sohaib Shams
Abdul El-Sayed secured a dramatic victory in Michigan's Senate race during the 2026 US midterms, a win that followed a heated on-camera exchange with a British journalist that garnered more than 13 million views on social media.
British roots and Oxford years
Before entering US politics, El-Sayed was a 25-year-old Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. In a 2010 Guardian article, he argued that UK democracy held the "upper hand" over the American system after attending a Labour Party hustings in Bethnal Green and Bow, east London. He wrote that the smaller British constituencies and multi-party competition fostered a communal self-determination he found lacking in US federal elections.
Campaign marked by racism and Islamophobia
El-Sayed's campaign faced a barrage of racist and Islamophobic attacks. Donald Trump mocked his name, labelled him a "jihadist lunatic" and suggested the Senate would need a special metal detector if he were elected. In a last-minute twist, Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed had narrowly defeated for the nomination, endorsed his Republican opponent.
From Bethnal Green to the Senate
After completing his doctorate in public health and captaining the Oxford lacrosse team, El-Sayed returned to the US in 2011. His final Guardian piece that year challenged President Barack Obama to support Egyptian protesters during the Arab Spring. Following his election victory, El-Sayed addressed Trump directly, quipping that after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance, the former president could simply call him "senator."
