Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, D-Mich., said Americans "temporarily" put their trust and hope in Democrats during the midterm elections, but if his party doesn't act boldly when it takes control of Congress, he is concerned they will lose that trust. The 42-year-old, seen as a progressive, said the voters were clear: Democrats need new leadership and an ambitious legislative agenda.
"I deeply appreciate Senator Schumer," El-Sayed told NPR's Leila Fadel on the video podcast Newsmakers. "But this is about leadership from the American public, and if all we do is kind of go back to what we've been doing in a moment where we've been given a mandate, I worry that we may not earn our mandate."
El-Sayed said he wants Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during the December leadership elections. Van Hollen, a 67-year-old progressive, made headlines in 2025 when he traveled to El Salvador to visit Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported by the Department of Homeland Security without standard due process.
"He's willing to take risks when it matters — flying down to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a real risk," El-Sayed said of Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador. "I want folks to sort of think about what it means to earn that mandate that we just got. To me, it means taking righteous risks and righteous fights."
Beyond changing the Senate leadership, El-Sayed said Congress needs to end the war in Iran, pass "Medicare for All" and abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). When asked how — with Democrats a few seats short of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate — El-Sayed said he's willing to work with his new Republican colleagues.
"I've had a number of conversations with U.S. senators who said some really, really terrible things about me," El-Sayed said. "You know, we talked about auto policy because we make cars in Michigan."
He said he hasn't yet spoken to President Trump, who posted "Mr. Veto" on social media following the resounding Democratic midterm victory.
"Donald, if you're listening, there's a lot we could work on," El-Sayed said. "Happy to have a meeting. Let's figure out what we can work on and get done."
The former Detroit public health official even floated the idea of naming major healthcare legislation after Trump.
"Put his name on it," El-Sayed said. "He'll probably pass it. I'm not above doing that. I don't care what it's called."
At the same time, he appeared to welcome a standoff with the president over healthcare.
"I dare Donald Trump to veto. I dare him," El-Sayed said, "because if you want to make the argument that Democrats want to deliver for you, do that. Make him veto it."
During the campaign, Trump called El-Sayed a "jihadist lunatic" who was "on the side of terrorists." El-Sayed said he saw this bigoted name-calling from "a mile away," when he decided to run, but said he knew Michigan voters wouldn't buy it.
"The opposition decided to make my name such an issue and my faith such an issue," El-Sayed said. "And so, you know, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is as American as Mike Rogers. It's as American as Donald Trump. It's as American as whatever JD stands for. It is an American name."
In January, Vice President Vance will swear in all the new senators-elect. During the campaign, Vance called El-Sayed a representative of "terrible evil" and a "little weasel."
"I hope he doesn't make it awkward," El-Sayed said of Vance. "There is, as I said, a delicious irony in the fact that he is constitutionally obligated to swear me in."
El-Sayed's win is historic — he is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. When taking the oath, he said he will likely swear on the Quran, but he's deciding which one. Right now, he said, it might be the one that Thomas Jefferson owned or the oldest Quran in his state, which is at the University of Michigan.
"Whatever my name is, however I pray, it's not the book that you swear on. It's the book you swear allegiance to," he said, referring to the Constitution. "This document is the reason that, no matter how I pray, that I could run for office and that the folks in my state could elect me. What an amazing thing."
Can't see the video above? Click here.
Copyright 2026 NPR