Abdul El-Sayed shares his goals, vision for US Senate in midterm race

Welcome back. The midterm elections are less than two weeks away, and we are taking a different approach to the U.S. Senate race. We are working to give you a unique opportunity to better understand the candidates and their perspectives. I connected with the Democratic nominee, Dr. Abdullah Syed, in Detroit's Eastern Market before the debates here in Michigan got underway. My very first question to him, what is one of the biggest misconceptions about him? You don't have to be a socialist. You don't have to be extreme to believe that people in this country deserve health care. You don't have to. It's not extreme to believe that we shouldn't be fighting stupid wars that they keep getting us into telling us that they're not you don't have to be extreme to believe that people should be able to afford their gas and groceries what's your stance on medicare for all you know i'm four i literally wrote the book on it i want everybody to have guaranteed health care in this country it's not that hard how do we pay for it look we pay 19 cents on the dollar for every dollar we spend in the entire economy on health care we're already paying for it but you know who's getting it the ceos of big hospital corporations and big pharma companies and big insurance companies i want my health care dollar to be spent on our health care. It's not that hard. The 40 trillion dollar deficit, does it add to that deficit? No, look, we could do it without adding to the deficit at all. You know what adds to the deficit? Dumb wars. You know what else adds to the deficit? Tax cuts for billionaires. When it comes to the primary, you lost in the city of Detroit. What do you feel black voters still need to hear from you? So I want them to know the work that I've done beyond the attack ads that were spent against me. I also want them to know why they saw those attack ads. I'm the only candidate who's never taken a dime of corporate money, Democrat or Republican, not one dime. Whether it was one appearance or a handful of appearances, comments such as America deserved a 9-11, comparing America to al-Qaeda or any terrorist organization, what is your response for people? Those are dumb comments that have no basis. And, you know, it's, again, an effort that a few people want to make to try to frame this campaign as being about some streamer in California. This campaign is not about a streamer in California. It's not even about me. It's not about Mike Rogers. This campaign is about whether or not you can afford your groceries, you can afford your utilities, you can pay for your groceries, you can see a doctor when you get sick. That's what this campaign is about. For clarification, how involved is Hassan Piker in your campaign past, present, future? He's a streamer in California, right? I've campaigned with all kinds of people. I've had conversations like this with all kinds of people. You and I probably don't agree on everything. We probably agree on a lot of things. I mean, your coat's beautiful. But, like, we don't agree on everything. But that doesn't mean that in order to have a conversation with you that I have to agree with you on everything. Do you have any concern appearances with certain individuals could cost you key votes? It might, but at the end of the day, I think we're all big enough and adult enough to realize that no one person speaks for you except for you. I speak for myself. I speak pretty clearly for myself. So I want folks to understand what I'm about and what I've been about. Do we, more so, how do we as a society, you as a leader potentially, defend the right of Palestinians, fight against Islamophobia while also confronting anti-Semitism? Well, I think we've got to start here. Judaism and the Jewish people are a light unto the world. It's a beautiful faith. I grew up in a heavily Jewish community. I'm so grateful for that. I got to spend my time at shul and bar and bat mitzvahs. I grew up in and among the Jewish community. Beautiful faith, beautiful people. There's this concept called tikkun olam, which is to heal or repair the world. In the Jewish faith, I draw so much inspiration from that. But Judaism and the Jewish people are not the same thing as the government of another country. Those are not the same. It comes to our money that is being sent over there. to subsidize a foreign government i oppose that why because i want my money spent here on our kids school on our health care on opportunity here and that's not about hating anybody that's about loving everybody that's about believing that whether you're palestinian over there or black or white here you deserve to know that money is being spent to do good things right? Our money right now that should be spent on schools here is being sent over there to drop bombs on schools there. That to me makes no sense. So I believe in equal rights and peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike. Dr. El-Sayed and I spoke for about 30 minutes. We will have that full conversation posted on Fox2Detroit.com and Fox Local. Also, we have been in contact with the Mike Rogers campaign for the same kind of conversation. They have expressed interest and we are waiting for them to confirm a date. We will keep you posted. Early voting begins tomorrow. Election day is Tuesday, November 3rd.