El-Sayed Would Bring Three Firsts to the Senate — SkimNews
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- Abdul El-Sayed has six days left in a bruising, contentious Michigan Senate campaign and is known for comedic social media videos, advocacy of "Medicare for All," and a controversial stance on U.S. policy toward Israel.
- Bernie Sanders has pitched El-Sayed as the future standard-bearer for Medicare for All, the policy Sanders popularized in the American consciousness.
- El-Sayed would be the first epidemiologist in the upper house, the first holder of a medical degree to represent the Democratic Party in the Senate since 1969, and the first Muslim senator if elected.
- El-Sayed wrote a book on applying systems science to public health, worked to rebuild Detroit's health system, and researched how social circumstances affect maternal mortality.
- Trump said El-Sayed would "open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores," creating "a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas."
- JD Vance called El-Sayed "a little weasel," while his medical and public health background is likely to figure prominently if he is elected from Michigan.
Why it matters: Sanders is counting on El-Sayed to carry Medicare for All into the Senate: El-Sayed's election would deliver the first epidemiologist, the first Democratic senator with a medical degree since 1969, and the first Muslim senator, all decided in a Michigan race with six days left.
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