Michigan Senate Candidate El-Sayed Calls RFK Jr. the “Most Incompetent HHS Secretary Ever”
Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Senate candidate backed by Bernie Sanders as a future champion of Medicare for All, says he would use his public health expertise to challenge Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he called “the most incompetent HHS secretary we’ve ever had.” El-Sayed responded after Kennedy, appearing with Republican opponent Mike Rogers, disparaged Arab scientific achievement. If elected, El-Sayed would be the Senate’s first epidemiologist and first Muslim member.
The Egyptian-American candidate holds both medical and doctoral degrees, researched health inequality and previously led public health agencies in Detroit and Wayne County. Rogers has questioned his description of himself as a doctor because he never completed a medical residency and cannot treat patients, while also arguing that his single-payer proposal would raise costs and ration care.
El-Sayed wants a seat on the Senate health committee, where he says he would scrutinize Kennedy and prepare a rebuilding package for a possible Democratic administration in 2029. His agenda includes directing federal research toward Americans’ needs, supporting riskier high-impact science, strengthening training, accelerating drug approvals and modernizing the CDC. Although fiercely critical of the Trump administration’s overhaul of health agencies, he shares its interest in limiting university overhead on federally funded research.
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