2026 U.S. Senate campaign
On April 17, 2025, El-Sayed announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan after incumbent Gary Peters announced he would not run for reelection.
On April 7, 2026, El-Sayed held campaign events on several university campuses in Michigan alongside U.S. representative Summer Lee and political streamer Hasan Piker. Piker's association with the campaign became a point of contention within the Democratic Party over his past comments about the September 11 attacks, Hamas, and Israel. El-Sayed defended campaigning with Piker as an effort to engage with his audience, adding that he does not agree with everything Piker has said.
After Mallory McMorrow withdrew from the Democratic primary in July, news outlets called the race a choice between the party's moderate, establishment-backed wing, represented by Haley Stevens, and its progressive wing, represented by El-Sayed.
The Associated Press called the primary for El-Sayed on the morning of August 5. He faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the general election.
If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim and the first Egyptian-American elected to the US Senate.
AIPAC spent over $10 million in support of El-Sayed's Democratic primary opponent, Haley Stevens. The American Priorities PAC, a pro-Palestinian Super PAC set up to counter AIPAC, said it would support El-Sayed. El-Sayed's father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, the leader of the Islamic Society of North America, contributed $200,000 to another independent committee, the Fighting for Michigan PAC, which was also set up to fund El-Sayed's campaign.
In August 2026, El-Sayed apologized for remarks he made after the 2026 Temple Israel attack in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. After that attack, El-Sayed released a video statement that included the phrase "Hurt people hurt people", a reference to the perpetrator's relatives having been killed in an Israeli airstrike. In his apology, El-Sayed said, "I should have just issued a statement, of course condemning it, and it should have been the full stop."
Also in August 2026, El-Sayed distanced himself from Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, with whom El-Sayed campaigned during the primary. In a statement El-Sayed said: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters. Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk." He added that only he speaks for his campaign.
