A fiery political speech in Michigan takes aim at Donald Trump, Mike Rogers, corporate influence, and the growing role of big money in American politics. The speaker celebrates a grassroots movement that relied on thousands of volunteers, criticized $70 million in outside spending, and called for getting corporate money out of politics.
He also lays out a vision centered on working families, affordable groceries, housing, healthcare, unions, collective bargaining, and Medicare for All. In a direct challenge to Mike Rogers, he calls for five debates and promises to hold his opponent accountable before Michigan voters. The speech also addresses democracy, immigration, Jewish American safety, self-determination, economic inequality, and the idea of building an America that works for all of its children.
#AbdulElSayed #MikeRogers #DonaldTrump #MichiganPolitics #MichiganSenate #MichiganElection #TrumpVsMichigan #Democracy #TakeBackOurDemocracy #MedicareForAll #WorkingFamilies #CorporateCorruption #BigMoneyInPolitics #MoneyOutOfPolitics #MichiganNews #USPolitics #PoliticalSpeech #GrassrootsMovement #ProgressivePolitics #MichiganDemocrats #MAGA #TrumpPolitics #MikeRogersMichigan #MichiganSenateRace #HealthcareForAll #LaborRights #UAW #WorkersRights #Election2026 #BreakingPolitics
He also lays out a vision centered on working families, affordable groceries, housing, healthcare, unions, collective bargaining, and Medicare for All. In a direct challenge to Mike Rogers, he calls for five debates and promises to hold his opponent accountable before Michigan voters. The speech also addresses democracy, immigration, Jewish American safety, self-determination, economic inequality, and the idea of building an America that works for all of its children.
#AbdulElSayed #MikeRogers #DonaldTrump #MichiganPolitics #MichiganSenate #MichiganElection #TrumpVsMichigan #Democracy #TakeBackOurDemocracy #MedicareForAll #WorkingFamilies #CorporateCorruption #BigMoneyInPolitics #MoneyOutOfPolitics #MichiganNews #USPolitics #PoliticalSpeech #GrassrootsMovement #ProgressivePolitics #MichiganDemocrats #MAGA #TrumpPolitics #MikeRogersMichigan #MichiganSenateRace #HealthcareForAll #LaborRights #UAW #WorkersRights #Election2026 #BreakingPolitics
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NewsTranscript
00:00To introduce you to now officially the Democratic nominee to become the next United States Senator from the great state
00:11of Michigan, please join me in welcoming Abdul El-Saheim!
00:25I just want to say how grateful I am to my colleague Senator McMorrow, Chairman Hertel, to all of our
00:31incredible supporters here, what a race, you know, in the words of Muhammad Ali, we shook up the world.
00:39And I want to say, just first and foremost, how grateful I am for the opportunity to participate in democracy.
00:48My family immigrated to this country from a place where there is not democracy, you cannot just put your hand
00:52up and run.
00:54And the ability to do this, to have our voices heard, to select our leaders, it is a gift that
01:03sometimes we take for granted.
01:04So to have participated means so much. And to my fellow participants, I just want to say how grateful I
01:09am to you.
01:09Senator McMorrow, you ran an incredible race. You fought to end the corporate corruption in our politics.
01:14You took on the power of AIPAC. You were willing to speak truth to a level of power that sometimes
01:19is unbeatable.
01:21And I just want to want to say thank you and how grateful I am to have your support here
01:27today.
01:27I cannot wait to see what you do next. And I hope that for as long as I'm in this
01:32work that we can be in this work together. Thank you.
01:38To my colleague and friend, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, we shared a great conversation this morning.
01:43And I know that it was a bitter end to this very long primary.
01:48But I also know that Haley brings the best of herself to her work.
01:53She is one of the most committed public servants that you'll ever meet.
01:56She loves democracy like I love democracy.
01:59And whatever differences that we might have had in the primary, they pale in comparison to what unifies us.
02:04A recognition that so long as we want to keep our democracy, that democracy better be working for people.
02:09And that all of us have to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the
02:13inside of the U.S. Senate.
02:15So, Congresswoman, thank you for your race.
02:22And I have to say a few more thank yous before we talk about where we're going next.
02:27First, I got to thank my wife, Sara.
02:32I really, when we decided to jump into this race, I knew that it was going to be tough for
02:39me.
02:39But I also knew that it was going to be particularly tough on our family.
02:41And the fact that she held it down alongside her medical practice, alongside making sure that our daughters didn't experience
02:49this without thinking life was just normal.
02:52That takes just an extraordinary amount of effort and sacrifice.
02:56So I just want to say how grateful I am to you, love.
02:59And I'm so, so honored and thankful that we get to continue this 20 years on.
03:04It's been a hell of a ride.
03:07I owe her a 20th anniversary on our 21st anniversary because we definitely didn't get one of those this year.
03:11To my daughters, I know that they're not watching.
03:15But, you know, I wish this meant I get a little bit more time with you, but give me three
03:20more months.
03:24To everybody who put their shoulders into the work, anybody who made a contribution, who knocked on a door, who
03:31made a phone call, who put yourself into this democracy, who gave us your stake in democracy.
03:37This movement, this moment is for you.
03:39And I just can't say how grateful I am to have earned the votes that we got.
03:44We took on a machine.
03:45You're not supposed to be able to beat $70 million of outside spending.
03:50A record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign.
03:58You're not supposed to be able to beat that.
03:59And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.
04:06What we showed is that if you're willing to build a movement brick by brick, if you're willing to go
04:10and travel your state and have the conversations in rooms big and small, starting in moments when people aren't even
04:15paying attention to an election, but are paying attention to the price of gas and the price of groceries and
04:20the price of housing and the price of healthcare, that you can build a conversation that builds into a movement
04:25that defeats Goliath.
04:29This is what you all show.
04:31And my hope is that our democracy will never be the same.
04:36So when big pharma and big tech, when DTE and Blue Cross come a knocking saying, you know what, this
04:42is our democracy and we're going to own it.
04:44From here on out, we can always point and say, no, this is the people's democracy and we will always
04:48own it.
04:56This would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of so many allies and allied organizations.
05:03I got to give a special thank you to my first endorsers, Bernie Sanders, the OG who came in on
05:10day one, put his entire shoulder in the work.
05:12I just hope that I can help to carry some of that load in the fight for working people and
05:16Medicare for all that he's been carrying for all of this time.
05:19To the UAW, the unbeatable, indomitable UAW.
05:25As a son of immigrants, son of a father who came to this country to build cars.
05:31I got to say that this is still the best place in the world to make an automobile and that
05:36is because of the fighting UAW.
05:38But it's also the best place in the world to build a family because of the fighting UAW.
05:44And our work is about making sure that the folks who want to sell our democracy off to corporations and
05:52special interests don't get to take that away.
05:54And I stand in lockstep with our UAW sisters and brothers to the AFT, the National Nurses United, the AFGE,
06:01the AAUP.
06:02Thank you so much for your work to all of the advocacy organizations who made this possible on the ground.
06:08Folks like the PCCC and MoveOn.
06:13Folks like the Working Families Party.
06:15All of the constituency organizations who knocked on doors and made phone calls.
06:19Thank you so much for putting your shoulder into the work.
06:23I also have to thank all of our endorsers, 300 strong, who came in, spent their time with us, came
06:33from just down the street or came from across the country to talk about what it looks like to build
06:39a movement of the people, by the people, and for the people.
06:41I want to say how grateful I am to you.
06:45We built this campaign brick by brick.
06:48Back in April, I remember talking to a room of five people in a discussion that most people will never
06:54clock, but it was an opportunity for us to share an honest conversation about pain and about purpose.
07:01And I've been able to have 500 more of those discussions over the past 15 months.
07:06I trained to be a doctor and the single most important moment that makes a clinical encounter is that moment
07:15that somebody shares their pain with you believing that you could do something about it.
07:19I don't practice medicine as has been well documented by all of you.
07:23But I hope that I get to practice that part of things.
07:27And I've been able to practice it, but it requires people being willing to share their pain with you so
07:32that you can do something about it.
07:34That is a moment, a piece of vulnerability people give you because they believe that you can actually fix it.
07:42It's an investment, sure, in a campaign, but it more is an investment in democracy.
07:47And as we traveled our state, we were in living rooms in Lansing, VFW halls in Escanaba, basements in Grand
07:54Rapids, churches in Detroit.
07:56I got to meet so many of you, Michigan, so many.
07:59And you shared both what caused pain, but also what brought purpose.
08:04And we forged a movement out of that to get money out of politics, put money back in pockets and
08:11pass Medicare for all to guarantee health care in this country.
08:19And for our troubles, the corporations, the special interests who would rather get to decide who our elected officials are
08:27than let us decide who our elected officials are, they spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us.
08:35It was attack ad after attack ad, after attack ad, after attack ad, wall to wall ads.
08:41But it turns out that the commercials are the part of the television show most people don't want to watch.
08:46It turns out that you can spend as much money as you want on lies, but it doesn't make them
08:51true.
08:52It turns out that when you're able to reach out and dignify somebody's pain, people remember that a lot more
08:59than a 30-second ad played on a loop on television.
09:02And it turns out that when the people want something in this democracy of ours, the people can get that
09:08thing if we're willing to do the work of that.
09:11And that's exactly what Michiganders up and down the state showed 12,000 volunteers knocking nearly 10,000 doors a
09:19day to defeat an unprecedented amount of outside money, $70 million.
09:26But right now, as bitter and as divisive and as cynical as the campaign against us might have been, I
09:33want us to realize that there is so much more that unites us now.
09:38Because the campaign that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and their GOP MAGA allies are launching is already more bitter.
09:49All you got to do is look at the ads you're already watching on TV started today.
09:54You know, they think that you want to use my whole name against me.
09:57Mike, listen man, if you can't say the name, it's Abdurrahman, keep the name out your damn mouth.
10:03I'll be happy to give you lessons.
10:09But they understand that the only way that they think they can win is to drag us into the mud,
10:15to believe the worst about each other,
10:17to believe that what divides us is bigger than what unites us.
10:21They want us to think that the reason some of us ain't got is because of other people got.
10:26But it turns out that the reason so many of us ain't got is because of the system that has
10:31corrupted our politics to take it away from us.
10:34And that is the thing that we are taking on now.
10:37That movement to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all, it is a
10:41big movement.
10:42So if you supported me or you did not support me, if you voted for Vice President Harris in 2024
10:49or you voted for Donald Trump,
10:51if you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your groceries, if you believe like me
10:55that you ought to be able to afford your home,
10:58if you believe like me that your tax dollars ought to be invested in you rather than sent somewhere else,
11:03if you believe like me that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is our
11:10birthright in this country,
11:12if you believe like me that we have a responsibility to stand up and walk with our union so that
11:18everybody has collective bargaining rights in this country,
11:20if you believe like me that you ought to have the guarantee of good health care in this country without
11:27some corporation trying to tell you what you cannot have and should not fight for.
11:31Therefore, I hope that you'll join this movement now.
11:39I want to speak specifically to an issue that has been focused on in this race.
11:46To my Jewish American sisters and brothers, one of the most indelible memories of this campaign will have been the
11:54opportunity to break bread with you at Seder,
11:58to worship with you at shul, to embrace, to be embraced by you.
12:06And listening to sisters and brothers who said, you know, I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn't speak
12:11for me,
12:12because I understand that self-determination for one people does not require the quenching of self-determination for another people.
12:21That unless all of us are free, none of us are free.
12:24I want to tell you the great gift that you've given me.
12:28And to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith or any faith at all or no faith
12:33at all,
12:34I want you to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety,
12:38is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.
12:44Because if there is one question of a political philosophy that ought to animate us all is what would we
12:49build?
12:50What would we do if we treated all of our kids like they were all of our kids?
12:56How would we spend our money?
12:58Where would we put our investment?
13:02How would we embrace one another?
13:04What kind of schools would we build?
13:06What kind of health care would we offer?
13:08What kind of jobs would we protect?
13:11And I say this because there could not be a greater contrast between that philosophy and the cynicism of Mike
13:20Rogers.
13:21See, Mike's a guy who spent 14 years in Congress with one goal, to figure out how to cash out
13:28the day he left.
13:29And guess what he did?
13:31As soon as he left Congress, after having taken corporate check, after corporate check, after corporate check,
13:38to empower the corporations to pick your pockets, he went and he cashed out.
13:43Not in Michigan.
13:44No.
13:44Winters are too cold for him.
13:47He's got thin skin after all.
13:50He went to Florida.
13:52So, Mike, if you want to be a Florida man, go be a Florida man.
13:55If you want to golf in Florida, go golf in Florida.
13:57But I promise you in November, we are going to send you back to Florida.
14:06Mike Rogers is the guy who wants to put a data center in your backyard so he can make himself
14:10feel a little bit more manly by making an AI video.
14:13Mike Rogers is the guy who has never shied away from a DTE check so he could turn his face
14:18in the direction of Florida.
14:20Mike Rogers is the guy who will do anything Blue Cross Blue Shield wants him to do, including raise your
14:26rates.
14:26Mike Rogers is the guy who introduced legislation to increase the flow of opioids.
14:33He did that while I was in high school.
14:36Mike Rogers is the guy whose politics and vision and perspective are old.
14:42Mike Rogers is a guy who has never shied away from a corporation he could do a favor for.
14:49Mike Rogers is a guy who, believe it or not, went back to Florida so he could lick every single
14:55boot Donald Trump owns to beg for his endorsement.
14:58I'm so sorry if you want a senator who's going to lick some boots, fine, go vote for Mike Rogers.
15:03But if you want a senator who's going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you've got your option right
15:07here.
15:10And what's funny about Mike Rogers is that he's like the worst of all versions of the Republican Party.
15:18Right. He's the worst of the neocon version.
15:21I mean, he was in the House during the entirety of the Iraq War.
15:26He left because he got tired of it.
15:30And then he swore up and down he could never support Donald Trump until, of course, he was licking Donald
15:35Trump's boots.
15:36So now he carries the burden of both of those things.
15:39Is he MAGA? Is he neocon?
15:42No, man, he's just a corporate sellout.
15:47So, Mike, I'm going to say it right here.
15:49I know you're going to say no because you're a coward.
15:51Five debates.
15:52All right.
15:53If you're willing to stand with me and have a conversation, you and I both know that you will wither
15:59in front of your own crimes.
16:02But I'm going to make sure Michiganders know about them because the time we're done, you are not going to
16:07have safe quarter from people holding you accountable to what you've done for them here in Michigan.
16:13We will send you back to Florida where you belong.
16:16Five debates.
16:17I'm hoping for an answer today.
16:19It's going to be a lot of fun, my God.
16:23But I want to finish here because it's not about Mike Rogers.
16:25It's not even about Donald Trump.
16:26It is about who we are as a country.
16:32I worked in that building right there.
16:34In fact, you can see the window of my former office.
16:39And there are moments I had to pinch myself because my story in America is about as unlikely as it
16:48gets.
16:50But for an accident of history that allows my dad to immigrate to Detroit to go to Wayne State University,
16:55I was supposed to be a cab driver in Egypt like my cousins.
17:00I would spend a lot of my childhood summers in Egypt.
17:04I'd spend them there with a front row seat to what my life should have been.
17:10Except for I got to be born in America.
17:13Where I got vaccinated against diseases that killed an aunt and uncle I never got to meet.
17:18They died before their first birthday.
17:20I got to go to amazing public schools, an incredible public university.
17:24I got my medical education paid for by a public agency at the NIH.
17:28That's what America gave me.
17:30Now, the crazy thing is I grew up not 20 minutes from here.
17:34And in traveling 20 minutes, I traveled a 10-year life expectancy gap.
17:40I got to meet kids who never got the opportunities I got despite the fact that their families had been
17:45here far longer than me.
17:47I know what America gave me, but I also know what America continues to deny too many of her own
17:53children.
17:54And a lot of my work in that building right there was about trying to address exactly that.
17:59And I kept running up against one thing.
18:02The kind of politics that tell us that we cannot invest in those children because we should be sending their
18:09money to deny rights to other children abroad.
18:13A politics that tells us that the corporations should do what they can and the rest of us do what
18:18we must.
18:19A politics that tells us that our democracy is there for the taking if you have enough money to take
18:24it.
18:27And so when the opportunity to run for U.S. Senate came up, I realized that this was a fight
18:31not just against Mike Rogers and Donald Trump.
18:34It was a fight for the kind of America that can give what I had to all of her children.
18:40That is the work in front of us.
18:44This country of ours, this America of ours is more than a flag, it's more than a set of colors.
18:49If you're a patriot, then you better fight for an America that is America for all of her kids.
18:57That's what this is about. Building a movement to take our democracy back to serve the people who absolutely deserve
19:03the best of what America has to offer them.
19:07That's the commitment all of us are making.
19:09So whether you voted for me or voted for my opponent or didn't vote at all,
19:14we're inviting you to that movement to get money out of politics so we can put money back in pockets
19:20and finally guarantee the promise of health care through Medicare for all.
19:23And I am so honored, so honored for all of the folks who've already invested,
19:28to all the folks who have, and I cannot wait to meet you.
19:31And let's go win in November.
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