LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Abdul El-Sayed has secured his place on Michigan’s August U.S. Senate primary ballot after turning in just under 30,000 petition signatures, almost double what is needed to qualify.
El-Sayed said 29,750 signatures were submitted, emphasizing that the effort was powered entirely by volunteers. He said 531 volunteers or full-time staffers working other campaign positions participated in collecting signatures across the state.
“This was an all-volunteer effort in the way that we did it,” El-Sayed said. “When people actually like your message, you don’t have to pay for signatures.”
The former Detroit health director framed the milestone as evidence of grassroots momentum, noting his campaign has held hundreds of events in dozens of cities statewide.
While marking the procedural step of getting on the ballot, El-Sayed used the moment to sharpen his broader campaign message, focusing heavily on voter dissatisfaction with the current political system.
“I don’t know what purple means. I don’t know what this word progressive means,” he said. “You have people who have been locked out of our system, and you have the people who are doing the locking out. And right now, Michiganders are desperate for somebody who’s willing to take on the people with the keys.”
El-Sayed argued that many voters feel politically disconnected, pointing to recent election cycles that have swung between candidates like Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
“People are sick and tired of the options,” he said. “So they’re bouncing back and forth and being like, I don’t like this one, I don’t like this one. What would happen if you actually gave people an option they liked?”
He said his campaign is not centered on traditional ideological labels, but instead on addressing everyday concerns like health care costs, housing affordability, and access to food.
“This is not about ideological battles,” El-Sayed said. “This is about battling the system that has locked so many people out.”
El-Sayed is running in a competitive Democratic primary field for the seat currently held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters. The primary election is scheduled for August.
