On Oct. 22, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed hosted a meet-and-greet in the MUB Ballroom. This was the second leg of a statewide “Open Our Care” town hall series, which focuses on failures in the U.S. healthcare system and possible solutions.
The event began with 30 minutes of El-Sayed introducing himself and explaining why he decided to get into politics. “I was born and raised in Southeast Michigan and proudly attended public schools,” he said. “I studied to be a doctor but realized it was our broken politics that was making people sick.”
He also outlined some of his key achievements throughout his political career. He described how he, “rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department after bankruptcy, then led Wayne County’s Health, Human & Veterans Services Department.”
The rest of the meet-and-greet was open to questions. The audience asked about topics ranging from public speaking advice to foreign policy and the government budget.
When asked what he would like to say to Michigan Tech students as a whole, he expressed his frustration that it’s becoming harder for Michigan graduates to stay local. “I would love for you to take the incredible education you’re getting and have the opportunity to stay here in Michigan. The high probability is that you are from Michigan, and when you are looking for jobs, a lot of them are not in Michigan.”
When asked what differentiates him from other Democratic candidates, he emphasized that he does not receive funding from billionaires who could influence his policies. “I don’t take corporate money, not because I think it would be cool to post on Twitter that I don’t take corporate money. I don’t take corporate money because I understand this is the most essentially corrupting feature of our political system. When I ran last time, DTE spent $200,000 to beat me, Blue Cross Blue Shield spent $300,000 to beat me — and guess what? I happen to be a customer of both of them. They used my own money to beat me in an election! And if that’s not an indictment of our political system, I don’t know what is.”
If you would like to learn more about Abdul El-Sayed and his campaign, visit abdulforsenate.com.
The Michigan Tech Lode is a non-partisan publication, and does not endorse any political candidate, party, or ideology.
