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Transcript: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s Victory Speech As First Muslim US Senator 

Read the full transcript of Democrat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate victory speech in Detroit, Michigan, delivered after he was elected U.S. Senator from Michigan. In it, El-Sayed thanks his supporters, answers the attacks on his name and faith, takes aim at Mike Rogers, JD Vance, Donald Trump and AIPAC, and lays out his agenda: getting money out of politics, putting money in people’s pockets, and passing Medicare for All.

“We Did It”: El-Sayed Claims Victory

ABDUL EL-SAYED: Thank you. Alright, friends. How we do? Money out of? Politics.

Money in your? Pocket. Medicare for? All. Michigan.

We did it. My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. And I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan.

Up until right about now, you might have noticed I always say, “Inshallah,” or “God willing,” whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned. But today, tonight, we can turn that “Inshallah” into an “Alhamdulillah.”

This… For the right-wing ops, that just means “praise be to God.” Okay?

Thanking the Movement

This movement for money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All, I just want to thank you. Everybody who knocked the door, made a call, sent a dollar, posted a story, and most importantly, gave us your stake in democracy.

You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates. So thank you. This is all yours.

Michigan, I cannot wait to serve you with the same big-heartedness, open-mindedness, grit, and earnestness that you’ve shown me. You welcomed me to your homes, your churches, your synagogues, your VFW, and union halls.

You shared moments of frustration and sadness and vulnerability with me. You gave me grace and strength in my lowest moments and the hope and inspiration that powered my best. I love you back. And I hope that I can bring it all with me to Washington in your service.

Thank you for your trust and your belief and your kindness. I’m going to take it all with me, and I hope to bring back the kind of leadership that more than earns it.

An Ugly Campaign of Division

The last month has brought the stakes of this election into sharp relief. Ours, this beautiful movement was built over the past year and a half campaigning across Michigan’s biggest cities and its smallest towns. We spoke of a brighter, a bigger, more hopeful Michigan.

There’s an astroturfed corporate-funded advertising campaign built to deceive and distract. Rather than try to unite us to contend with the crisis of gas or groceries, the opposition decided to try to divide us.

At first, they pointed to my name and my faith as if to say, “He’s a little different.” And when it didn’t work, they tried to guilt me by association. And when that didn’t work, they went all in on one of the ugliest campaigns we’ve seen in our lifetimes.

They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know that my name and my faith aren’t the reason you can’t afford your gas, not the reason you can’t afford your groceries, not the reason you can’t see a doctor.

Now as I was campaigning, some of you would come up and ask me, “How come you don’t hit back? How come you don’t call them racist or hateful? Mr. Miller.”

Because here’s the thing. I didn’t run for myself. And in truth, they weren’t targeting me. They weren’t just attacking me.

They were targeting and attacking you. They were targeting and attacking the very idea of America. See, they hate the idea of an America big enough for anyone who looks a little different or prays a little different or whose family comes from a different part of the world.

That includes me, but it also includes anyone and everyone who doesn’t look like them, pray like them, love like them, or isn’t rich like them. So they turned this race into a simple choice.

They want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us. Big enough. We’re big enough to take on the crises that we face.

The Michiganders Behind the Campaign

Day by day, Trump’s insults became uglier and coarser. But I got to spend those days with you, learning about your struggles, your hopes, and the things that inspire you.

A mom of two kids with a genetic lung disease in East Jordan fighting the system to make sure her kids don’t lose the meds that they rely on to stay alive. Her hope? That they don’t have to struggle with health insurance like she has.

A grandma on the East Side fighting to make sure that the violence that took her son doesn’t take her grandson too. Her hope? An America where boys get to grow up.

I met Josh, the UAW auto worker fighting the corporate bosses who hadn’t raised their wages in two decades despite billions in profit. And they won that fight. His hope? An America where every single worker gets the right to a union.

I met a small business owner fighting to make sure that another heart attack doesn’t take food off the table for his 30 employees or their families. His hope, that his workers don’t have to worry about how they’ll feed their families.

“Their Fights Are My Fight”

See, I didn’t get into this to defend myself. No. I got into it because their fights are my fight, and their hopes are all of our hopes. We don’t do this work for ourselves. We do this work for each other.

To defend us all from another generation’s youth, treasure, and opportunity squandered at the altar of endless war. To defend us all from corporate oligarchs who’ve bought and sold our government to rig the system against us. To defend us all from a health care system more interested in monetizing our illness than healing our bodies and minds.