US Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Talks Midterm Election

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

Kailey Leinz (0:07)

Ken Paxton will be one of the speakers at this convention. So too will Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Senate in Michigan, who was locked in a tight race with progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. I would imagine you'll hear his name said by Mike Rogers, maybe a few other times at the convention. As we've heard, it invoked a lot, including by Vice President JD. Pence, who went to Michigan to rally support for Republicans. Mike Rogers included and had some pretty sharp words about El-Sayed. Listen.

JD Pence (0:36)

There's something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today.

And it's people who see themselves not as citizens of a combination, but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others. And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America.

Kailey Leinz (1:03)

We've heard similar language from others as well, including the NRC, which has launched a number of attack ads against El-Sayed, including one describing him as the most radical candidate in America. Listen.

SPEAKER_4 (1:14)

Abdul Rahman Mohammed El-Sayed, the most radical Senate candidate in America. El-Sayed pledged support for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a designated foreign terrorist group. He wants to hike taxes on Michigan waitresses, delivery drivers and seniors on social security.

Kailey Leinz (1:31)

And I'm pleased to say, to respond to these things himself, Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan candidate, Democratic candidate, for Senate is joining us now on Bloomberg TV and radio. Abdul, thank you so much for being here. Obviously, I'm sure you are familiar with these lines of attack by now. Also the sense that Republicans across the board seem to be equating your candidacy with one of Democrats all over the country this cycle. So where is the daylight between you and other Democrats?

Abdul El-Sayed (2:03)

Let's just talk about what Michiganders are worried about, what's dangerous to them. What's dangerous to them is that they're watching their entire paycheck get gobbled up by gas they can't afford, groceries they're getting priced out of, utilities that are way too expensive all bought and paid for by the corporations who are buying people like Mike Rogers, JD Vance and Donald Trump.

So if we want to talk about where we need to be, we need a politics that actually answers for their challenges. And that's what we're offering now. Donald Trump, JD Vance, Mike Rogers have no real solution to anything. So they're just going to point to me and point to my faith and how I pray and my name and say, well, he's out of step. I don't know. I'm a lot more in step with the Michiganders. I'm meeting up and down the state because I actually spend my time in my state. Unlike Mike Rogers who, you know, daddy's telling him he needs he needs a hug. So Mike Rogers go fly all the way out to Dallas, give daddy a big hug and say really nice things about daddy, who is fighting a tariff war, we have no business fighting with Canada and a hot war with Iran.

Kailey Leinz (2:58)

Well, so as you say you want to address the concerns of Michiganders, let's talk about some of the specific ways you've talked about doing that. Because you say you aren't a socialist, that you don't identify with the DSA, that you fundamentally are a capitalist, just one that believes in regulation. So what regulatory levers specifically would you be looking to pull?

Abdul El-Sayed (3:17)

Well, number one, I think we need an empowered Federal Trade Commission that can stand up to monopolies and oligopolies that are using their market power to fundamentally distort what ought to be markets that folks can freely enter and exit. When you've got monopolies and oligopolies in almost every aspect of American life, they do two things. And folks at Bloomberg probably understand this better than I.

Number one, they spend their effort to raise prices. And number two, they use their power to suppress wages. It's the reason why we're watching as our prices go up and our ability to keep up with those prices stay suppressed. The second thing we really need to do is to make sure that corporations can't buy politicians so that those politicians are going to turn a blind eye. Here in Michigan, you've got people who have gone without power now for days and days because of a storm. That happens every single time you get a storm in Michigan from a corporation called DTE, which has paid $64,000 to help Mike Rogers alone get elected and has spent money to elect 93% of the state legislature. So those two things, number one, addressing oligopolies and monopolies, and number two, making sure corporations can't buy politicians. Those two would go a long way to actually restoring a kind of capitalism that allows people to participate.