On Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the Oakland Center Ballroom, the College Democrats invited Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed to discuss his key campaign priorities as the election season approaches. 

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive democrat running for U.S. Senate, said in reference to homeownership for those under 40, student loans that haunt for decades after graduation and living without the worry of falling into debt if one gets sick. 

El-Sayed, a graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia University, was previously the director of Health, Human and Veteran Services for Wayne County. El-Sayed explained that during his years in health administration, he realized that policy impact in the healthcare sector was about applied practice: issues of clean air and equitable care delivery over medical terminology.

During his address, he identified three priorities: getting big money out of politics and putting it back in pockets, corporate responsibility and reviving a populace-centered approach to policy. 

“Donald Trump himself is not the disease of our politics, he is the symptom of the disease of our politics,” El-Sayed said of the influence political action committees (PACS) and super PACS have on elections. 

El-Sayed, who has himself refused to accept corporate PAC funds, drew attention to the disproportionate power that corporations can gain when they develop a lobbying presence around legislation and political candidates. He reasoned that money can be put back into pockets when the large corporations providing utilities are held accountable to the public interest and small businesses capture more investments.

In keeping with this vision, tech firms wishing to build data centers would ideally contract with communities—delivering on promises to keep costs level, avoid burdening local water infrastructure and create jobs as an investment return for residents. 

When it comes to expanding access to healthcare, education and housing, El-Sayed supported taxes on the wealthy. He framed a tax on the highest earners as a means of ensuring that everyone’s kids can enjoy the same opportunities and a high standard of education. 

In 2021, El-Sayed coauthored “Medicare For All: A Citizen’s Guide” with Micah Johnson, M.D., to offer a vision of what universal health insurance coverage could look like. He hopes that, if elected to the U.S. Senate, the strategy outlined in the book can become a template for building a “cradle to the grave” insurance policy. 

“It thinks through the policies and politics to guarantee Medicare. It offers a guidepost for what we could have if we’re willing to push past insurance companies and pharmaceuticals,” El-Sayed said. 

After the cost of living, healthcare, according to data from Tufts University, is the second-greatest concern among voters aged 18-34. El-Sayed referenced the staffing shortages in the healthcare sector that are leaving Americans with decreased access to professional services and care options. The statewide disparities have led to the creation of new mid-level positions like dental therapists and doctors of nursing to help bridge a widening gap of doctors in Michigan.

El-Sayed expressed that he supports these new licenses to expand practice for nurses and physician assistants, who are especially important in rural communities where people may not have access to doctors. However, he maintained that the insecurity caused by medical debt must first be alleviated through coverage before various delivery models can be weighed.

El-Sayed, when it comes to education, identified a two-pronged approach: formal investment in state education and technological literacy. As part of his campaign promise for “More And Better Education, Not Less,” he affirmed a commitment to invest in childcare, higher education and public school infrastructure. He also affirmed some of the challenges faced by educators, who often assume functions that are beyond their training to support students.

“We’re asking teachers now to be nurses, to be social workers, also to be able to take care of everything in the classroom, and that’s not possible,” he said.  

El-Sayed also identified a need for what he describes as “informal education” among the general U.S. population for technological literacy. He argued that verifying algorithmic content could help offset the ideological divides deepened by misinformation.

While home ownership has long been part of the American dream, it feels out of reach for young adults, many of whom struggle to pay off student loans or find that the availability of entry-level jobs after graduation has decreased.

During the open Q&A session, a student presented the question of how to make affordable housing a reality, citing the low percentage of homeowners under 40. El-Sayed traced the housing crisis to underbuilding and stock investments. He pointed out that more people, fewer companies should own houses, and said having a select number of legal bodies to issue permits for building is among the primary obstacles to creating better housing options.         

“I have no idea what it feels like to be 20 years old right now,” he said in reference to the tumultuous political climate that many youth came of age in during Trump’s first administration.

Frustrations among youth were reinforced with a surprising statement.

“I think you all deserve an apology from us,” El-Sayed said of the culpability that all-too-often failed promises have in promoting voter apathy.

An antidote to this, as he identified, is encouraging the youth to develop a unified, active presence in the rally to defend the causes they care about.

El-Sayed rejected the notion of “these rights” or “those rights,” emphasizing that when one group’s rights are infringed upon, every other community stands to lose. El-Sayed emphasized that, beyond political party lines, are shared, basic values among voters — those that underlie the American dream. He advised college students to engage in discourse with others — reopening a door to genuine, human conversations that soften a partisanship towards one’s viewpoint. 

In closing, El-Sayed zeroed in on the critical support of young voters. 

“We need them. This is your future, and our job is to help us build it for you—and so, come and help us build it,” he said as his final statement.