Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, told NPR that Democrats were given only a temporary grant of trust in the midterms and will lose it if they do not act boldly.
The 42-year-old former Detroit public health official, seen as a progressive, said voters were clear that the party needs new leadership and an ambitious agenda. "I deeply appreciate Senator Schumer," he told NPR's Leila Fadel. "But this is about leadership from the American public, and if all we do is kind of go back to what we've been doing in a moment where we've been given a mandate, I worry that we may not earn our mandate." He said he wants Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in December's leadership elections. Van Hollen drew attention in 2025 when he traveled to El Salvador to visit Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been deported without standard due process. "He's willing to take risks when it matters," El-Sayed said.
Beyond a leadership fight, El-Sayed said Congress should end the war in Iran, pass "Medicare for All" and abolish ICE. Asked how, with Democrats a few seats short of a filibuster-proof Senate majority, he said he is willing to work with Republican colleagues, including senators "who said some really, really terrible things about me," starting with auto policy "because we make cars in Michigan."
'Put his name on it' — or dare a veto
He has not yet spoken to President Trump, who posted "Mr. Veto" after the Democratic victory. "Donald, if you're listening, there's a lot we could work on," El-Sayed said. "Happy to have a meeting." The former health official even floated naming major health-care legislation after Trump. "Put his name on it. He'll probably pass it. I'm not above doing that. I don't care what it's called." At the same time, he said, "I dare Donald Trump to veto. I dare him, because if you want to make the argument that Democrats want to deliver for you, do that. Make him veto it."
During the campaign, Trump called him a "jihadist lunatic" "on the side of terrorists." Vice President JD Vance called him a representative of "terrible evil" and a "little weasel." El-Sayed said Michigan voters did not buy it: "Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is as American as Mike Rogers. It's as American as Donald Trump." In January, Vance will swear in the new senators. "I hope he doesn't make it awkward," El-Sayed said. "There is, as I said, a delicious irony in the fact that he is constitutionally obligated to swear me in." He said he will likely swear the oath on a Quran — possibly the one Thomas Jefferson owned, or the oldest in Michigan, at the University of Michigan — but added that "it's not the book that you swear on. It's the book you swear allegiance to," meaning the Constitution.