Current Affairs is pleased to announce that public health expert Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has been nominated as the Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan. Our magazine has covered Dr. El-Sayed’s work many times over the years, and he is a former contributor to our pages and our YouTube channel. This victory has significant ramifications for American politics, as a remarkable demonstration of progressives’ political power. El-Sayed prevailed despite tens of millions of dollars being spent by AIPAC in order to stop him. If he wins in November, it will be a powerful rebuke to those who claim that left politics cannot win in “purple” states.

Dr. El-Sayed with Editor in Chief Nathan Robinson and Associate Editor Alex Skopic

Our magazine has been covering El-Sayed’s trajectory since his 2018 campaign for governor. In a long piece on him, I wrote that El-Sayed seemed to be an uncommonly effective spokesperson for progressive values. While that 2018 campaign did not succeed, it was obvious to those of us watching carefully that El-Sayed would some day be back—in a big way. Since then, Current Affairs has published interviews with him, covered his Medicare For All book, collaborated with him on YouTube videos, and asked him to write for us. Here’s a roundup of our work with and about El-Sayed over the years:

• My 2018 New York magazine piece “Abdul El-Sayed’s Campaign is a Test for Leftism in the Midwest”
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs essay, co-written with Dr. Micah Johnson, refuting a USA Today piece (supposedly) written by Donald Trump attacking Medicare For All
• My dive into Dr. El-Sayed’s single-payer healthcare plan
• Dr. El-Sayed’s long 2019 interview about public health and his background
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs essay criticizing 2020 Democratic candidates who were watering down Medicare For All
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs YouTube video The Five Reasons Why Medicare For All Works Better Than Private Healthcare
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs YouTube video The Truth About Medicare For All (featuring The Monopoly Man)
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs essay during the COVID-19 pandemic on how the privatized healthcare system was worsening our pandemic response
• Dr. El-Sayed’s Current Affairs interview about the COVID-pandemic
• My review of Medicare For All: A Citizen’s Guide by Dr. El-Sayed and Dr. Johnson
• A Current Affairs interview with El-Sayed at Netroots Nation in New Orleans last year about the plan for his campaign and the importance of standing up forcefully against politicians who fund crimes against humanity
• Our interview with Dr. El-Sayed from earlier this year about why Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democratic leadership is so alarmed by his campaign
• My Nation report from last month, “Could Abdul El-Sayed Upend Democratic Politics For Good?”

Abdul on the 2018 campaign trail with editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson

Abdul during his stint as a Current Affairs YouTube host

Abdul at the Current Affairs booth of Netroots Nation 2025

Abdul at the Current Affairs 10 Year Anniversary Party in New Orleans, along with friends of the magazine Max Alvarez and Kayla Rivera of The Real News Network and Max from UNFTR.

It’s obviously remarkable for a small magazine to have someone we’ve worked with before achieve this kind of political upset. When I was in Michigan last month writing about the campaign, I was completely floored by how often the ads against him were airing. (I wrote a whole article just about the attack campaign.) This election provides compelling evidence that AIPAC’s influence in American politics is on the wane, and that a new generation of progressive upstarts is set to take over the Democratic Party, and not just in New York City. The general election will now be a major test of a theory we’ve long believed in: that progressives who center working people’s material needs can actually be stronger electorally against Republicans than “centrists.”

El-Sayed’s success is obviously due primarily to how his agenda has resonated with the people of Michigan, and his own campaign’s formidable on-the-ground organizing. But the Associated Press also notes how the rise of independent progressive media in the last few years has allowed voices that would previously have gone unheard to break through the noise. Current Affairs is proud of our role in keeping attention on issues like Medicare For All that are too often ignored in the mainstream press, and we want to say thank you to our subscribers for building up a magazine that has consistently been ahead of the curve in documenting the rise of the new progressive left and giving space for voices that aren’t heard elsewhere. We’d also like to offer a heartfelt congratulations to our friend, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who has inspired so many people in Michigan and across the country.