Abdul El-Sayed Talks Historic Win in Michigan on TODAY

[0:00] that major victory for Democrats in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, winning the U.S. Senate there [0:05] after one of the most heated midterm races in the country and doing it in convincing fashion. [0:10] He joins us now from Michigan. Mr. Senator-elect, good morning. It's nice to have you along with us. [0:16] Good morning. Good morning. It is. It's an honor to be with you this morning. [0:19] I'm sure you didn't get too much sleep. We spoke to your fellow Senator-elect, [0:22] James Tallarico, last hour. One of the things he said is that Democrats have a mandate, [0:26] and he said they have a mandate for bipartisanship. Do you agree with that? [0:32] Look, I think we have a mandate to get stuff done. You know, I ran on getting money out of [0:35] politics, putting money in pockets and passing Medicare for all. The reason that people elected [0:40] me instead of electing my opponent is because they did not want a rubber stamp on Trump and [0:45] Trumpism. They wanted people to hold him accountable, particularly where his choices have led to higher [0:50] costs. You think about the price of gas and groceries because of this insane war in Iran. [0:55] You think about the ridiculousness of the tariff war with Canada. You think about the big, ugly bill [0:59] whose worst aspect is yet to take hold, which is the cuts on Medicaid. We need to act to hold Trump and [1:06] Trumpism accountable by addressing the costs that are rising in people's lives, passing legislation, [1:11] and forcing the president to decide what he's going to do, because we're trying to relieve issues that [1:15] the American public faces while he's out putting drapes in a ballroom. [1:20] Senator-elect, you mentioned bringing down costs. What about investigations? What about using the [1:26] subpoena power to investigate this president and this administration? How much time should [1:32] Democrats in the Senate focus on that? [1:34] Well, the issue is not political retribution. The issue is, can we address the challenges that [1:39] people face in their lives? You know, one big challenge that we had over the summer is that [1:43] people were dodging lettuce in my state because we had a cyclosporiasis outbreak. Now, [1:47] I'm a public health physician and somebody who spent my career focused on public health-led [1:52] health departments in the city of Detroit and Wayne County. There's a reason why that happened. [1:56] It's because they doged away the Food and Drug Administration's key role when it came to [2:02] inspecting our food supply. We couldn't even count the number of cases because of the doging of key [2:08] personnel at the CDC. We could address that challenge. We could make the FDA and the CDC whole to make sure [2:13] that we don't have this record number of recalls anymore. And we need to investigate exactly the [2:18] decisions that were made that led to this in the first place because people got sick and, in fact, [2:22] two people in my state died. So that's an example of the kind of rule that we can use the subpoena [2:27] power to understand why decisions were made that affected the American public's pocketbook in such a [2:32] real way and what we can do to reverse them, address them, and build into the future. [2:35] I mean, big picture here. Two years ago, it was Republicans who had won both houses of Congress, [2:42] regained the White House, and they were the ones who had a pep in their step. And two years later, [2:47] Democrats have convincingly taken that power back. Does that, as you think about what kind of senator [2:53] you want to be and in terms of where you're going to be on the ideological spectrum coming from a purple [2:59] state like Michigan? Does what lesson do you draw from that? It feels like voters have candidates [3:05] and politicians on a very short leash. You're absolutely right. And the issue here isn't party [3:10] as much. You know, Iran understanding that the divide in our politics, particularly in a state [3:15] like Michigan, isn't red versus blue or Democrat versus Republican. It's people who are locked out [3:19] versus the people doing the locking out. And as long as we're standing with people who are locked out [3:24] against the people who are locking them out, we have an opportunity to drive legislation that [3:29] actually addresses those challenges. I want to take on monopolies and oligopolies. I'll work with [3:33] either side of the aisle to do that. I want to guarantee more people healthcare. I'll guarantee [3:37] everybody in our country healthcare. I'll work with anybody to do that. I believe you deserve a union [3:41] at your workplace. I'll work with anybody to do that. And I think those are issues that affect the [3:46] pocketbook of all Americans. And those are the kinds of things that we should be working on. So I'm hoping [3:51] that we can attract some of our Republican colleagues to recognize that the incoming Medicaid [3:56] cuts, for example, are going to be a catastrophe for the public. And we should address them because [4:01] they could cause a death spiral in the entire healthcare system and raise our premiums to double [4:05] digits every single year. Those are the kind of opportunities that we've got, I think. [4:08] Senator-elect, really quickly here. In the past, you have been somewhat critical of Chuck Schumer. [4:15] Moving forward, do you think that the senator from New York should continue to lead the Democrats [4:20] in the upper chamber? Should he be a Senate Majority Leader? Well, we need action. We need [4:26] leadership toward that action. And I'm interested to see, working with the rest of our caucus, [4:30] what options we've got. You know, a vote is a choice between two or more options. And I'm going [4:34] to vote for the option that gives me the best chance of getting money out of politics, putting [4:37] money in pockets, and passing Medicare for all. Okay. Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, thank you for [4:43] waking up early after a late night there in Michigan. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. [4:47] Hey, thanks for watching. And don't forget, you can catch The Today Show every morning on NBC [4:53] or take Today when you're on the go. Just follow The Today Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, [5:00] or wherever you listen.