Abdul El-Sayed is two months away from the verdict on his campaign for U.S. Senate that, over the last 17 months, has made him a recurring topic on primetime national news, within high-profile internet discourse and to even U.S. President Donald Trump. An epidemiologist by trade, he started his own higher education journey at the University of Michigan in 2003. Now, he's the Democratic candidate facing Republican Mike Rogers for a highly-competitive seat in congress.
El-Sayed's father, Mohamed El Sayed, is an engineering professor at Eastern Michigan University and served as the president of EMU's chapter of the American Association of University Professors during the 2023 faculty strike.
Abdul El-Sayed spoke with The Eastern Echo at the Detroit Jazz Festival on Sept. 5, 2026 about some of the issues impacting Ypsilanti residents.
Q: What is your stance on the University of Michigan's proposed data center for Ypsilanti?
A: I've been really clear. If there's going to be a data center built, it better follow a certain set of terms. Number one, all union labor; number two, no increasing our utility rates; number three, no touching our water; number four, some of the revenue needs to be invested in improving reliability, and number five, there's got to be a clear community benefits agreement on top of that. Until we get that, and I want that in federal legislation, I do think we need state and local moratorium. I think people are really worried about what the long range of this looks like, and we've got to make sure that there's full transparency across the board.
Q: What would be your approach to addressing struggles public universities like EMU are facing when it comes to enrollment and affordability?
A: Number one, we've got to make sure that we don't have spiraling overhead costs. Number two, we should be investing in debt-free and tuition-free higher ed, and universities like Eastern, which my dad works at, by the way, those universities serve one of the most important roles in our higher ed infrastructure, and if they're becoming unaffordable, the real question is, where do we go with higher education generally? So we've really got to be investing in schools like Eastern that are such an important part of educating our future.
Q: How do you think we could get to a tuition-free model for public universities?
A: It's just gotta be a lot more of an investment, right? This has got to be a goal that we make. We got to invest there instead of sending our money abroad to drop bombs on other people or fighting wars we don't need to fight. We've got to be taxing billionaires so we have money to do that and so many other things.
Q: How would you address housing access and affordability in a community like Ypsilanti where a lot of people rely on renting?
A: I think we need a renters bill of rights so everybody knows exactly what to expect, and then we've just got to be investing a lot more in affordable housing. That's just got to be up and down in communities, like Ypsi and communities all over our state, and we've got to be making it easier for developers who want to build affordable housing to build.
Q: We covered your visit to EMU in 2017 when you were running for governor. Do you have any plans to visit again in the near future?
A: I sure do hope so.
Editor's Note: The Eastern Echo will reach out to all Michigan candidates for senate for their thoughts on these issues. For more information about the midterm elections, visit The Echo's voter guide page.
