Abdul El-Sayed returns to nurse union roots in push for US senate campaign

Abdul El-Sayed went back to his campaign roots this week when he spoke at a nurses' conference.

On Wednesday, at a packed Marriott ballroom in downtown San Francisco, the Michigan senate candidate, wearing a jeans jacket with nursing union and industry embroidery, was welcomed onto the stage as "our union brother and a trusted friend to nurses everywhere."

"Get money out of politics, get money in your pockets, Medicare for All!" the room of nurses chanted, prompted by El-Sayed with his campaign slogan.

"You all were the first union to stand with me, not when I ran in 2026, but way back when I ran for governor in 2018. I've been riding with the union nurses since I got into politics," he said, noting that his grandmother was a nurse and so is his mother.

He then highlighted his own path into medicine, which started with his childhood visits 15 hours from Michigan by plane to his family’s native Egypt. There, he said, "my teta Souad never got to go to school, lost two of the eight babies to whom she gave birth. And in those 15 hours, I crossed 10 years difference in life expectancy."

Referring stark income gaps reflected in healthcare in his native Michigan, he continued, "I didn't have to go 15 hours. I could go 15 minutes from where I grew up. And I crossed the same 10-year life expectancy gap."

In medical school, he continued to learn about a broken system that left behind the middle class, leading him into a career of public health and ultimately politics.

"In the richest, most powerful country in the world, you should not have to suffer for your healthcare. You should not worry about whether or not you can afford it," he said, pointing to industry greed, big insurance and big tech.

"Algorithms can't heal people. People heal people," he told the room of cheering nurses, many of whom have seen cutbacks to their industry.

"We have an opportunity to stand together, to take back our healthcare system, for the people who matter most in that system, not the CEO of a healthcare corporation, not the C-suit, not the marketing folks, but the patients and providers who make healthcare what it is," he said.

"Standing together, we have an opportunity to say loudly in these United States, in the richest, most powerful country in the world, deserves to know that they’re going to get their healthcare without having to worry about a premium or a co-pay or deductible, and we can do that by finally passing Medicare for All," he added, to more applause.

After his speech, El-Sayed took questions from the press, mainly about how he would help make Medicare for All a reality.

With just over a month until election day on 3 November, he is trying to seal the deal with voters by focusing on unifying issues, namely healthcare.

Along with Social Security (in which Americans collect a pension after retirement), Medicare has long been one of the most popular government programmes in the US. This was confirmed by a 2023 YouGov poll, which found that among members of both major parties these two programmes were the most popular of all social welfare plans.

Americans pay more per capita for healthcare than anywhere in the world. Despite this, the country ranks low among wealthy countries in key metrics, such as life expectancy and overall health. With skyrocketing healthcare costs, the popularity of Medicare for All has surged.

A 2025 survey conducted by Data for Progress found that 65 percent of US voters (including 79 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Independents and 49 percent of Republicans) support a Medicare for All system that would replace the current private for-profit insurance plans.

When asked by The New Arab how his background in the Middle East and support for Palestinian human rights informs his support for healthcare, he said, "No matter what background you have, if you immigrated or your family immigrated or your family’s been here since before the revolution, your body needs healthcare."

"That is one of the great unifiers in our politics right now, given how broken and corrupted the system has become in the interest of a few corporations who can buy politicians," he continued.

Speaking to his own experience, he said, "In Michigan, we see that every day. There’s not a town hall that I do where somebody does not ask about how they’re going to be able to afford their healthcare or doctor without falling into debt."

Nurses have been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. At anti-war demonstrations, it is common to see nurses and other healthcare workers invoke the high cost of war for why the US is not spending on domestic healthcare.

Elections are scheduled to be held, in large part, on 3 November 2026.