In November's midterm election, Michigan voters will choose a U.S. Senator to represent the state in Congress. This is an open election to fill the seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Senator Gary Peters.
Here at Michigan Public, we’re bringing you interviews with the candidates. You can find our interview with Libertarian Lydia Christensen posted soon. We reached out numerous times to Republican Mike Rogers campaign and haven’t heard back.
Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for Senate. El-Sayed spoke with Stateside host April Baer.
April Baer: Is there a piece of legislation you would propose or support if elected to the Senate, that would bring down costs of everyday life for Michiganders?
Abdul El-Sayed: There are several. Number one, I want to pass a War Powers Resolution that strips Donald Trump from the ability to continue to wage this war illegally so that we can end it, and we can address the fact that it is raising the price of our gas and our groceries, the price of diesel.
Number two, I want to stand up to oligopolies and monopolies who use their market power to suppress our wages and to raise our prices.
Number three, I want to make sure that our wages keep up with the prices that we're seeing. And that means empowering unions by passing the PRO Act.
And number four, I want to end these ridiculous tariffs with Canada that are raising prices for everything and forcing us to pay an average of about $5,600 per person. These are all policies that we could get done. But the first one and the last one, the tariffs and the war, these things we can do immediately, right? Without the authorization of Congress, a president is not able to make war, is not able to inflict tariffs on everyone. And I think those are things that if we are given the opportunity to hold gavels as Democrats, we can get done.
AB: People also talk to us about their worries, finding high quality, high paying work right now. What would you do in the Senate to ensure that that kind of work is available to Michiganders?
AES: Yeah. Well, you know, it goes back to the power of a union, right? Too often what's happening now is that you have a few corporations that dominate any given industry. Think about medicine. We've seen this consolidation in health care that's basically forced people who work in the health care field, if you're a nurse or you work in health care in any way, you're now choosing one of maybe two options that are close to your home versus maybe four or five in the past, which means that they can use their power to suppress your wage. Unions are really critical to that. And right now, we've seen some of the lowest union participation in American history. And it's no coincidence that we also have some of the highest inequality in American history. And right now, I think we need to make it easier to join or form a union. I think the PRO Act is one of the most important things we can do with that.
The other side of this, though, is that too much of our economic approach has been around subsidizing big corporations to give us 400, 500 jobs, but those jobs never really materialized. The other opportunity here is to invest in small business, to invest in revolving loans and capital opportunities so that would-be entrepreneurs can start businesses, build jobs that are local, move their money around in the economy. And right now, we just don't have the investment there that we need to. So the vision that I've got is rather than corporatism, I really want actual effective capitalism which is about empowering the opportunities for small businesses, and making sure that if you work for a large corporation, you've got a union that's got your back.
AB: Americans have expressed more and more in recent years their questions about executive power in this country. Should the Senate place more or fewer limits on executive power for the current president, and/or future presidents?
AES: Certainly more. I mean, I think you can go ahead and start with the misuse of the pardon. You know, we've seen that and we're going to see that even worse with Donald Trump. But, you know, so much of the things that the Trump administration has been able to do is because Congress isn't actually taking up the powers that Congress actually has. And so it's not even just about power. It's about whether or not people in Congress are willing to take their power. And one of the most important things that we can do right now is take back power. And they've got a trifecta in terms of control of the branches of government. And I think it's important for us to take back power so we can actually create an effective check against Trump and Trumpism.
AB: Should the Senate make any changes to immigration law for people who are trying to enter the United States, or for those already here?
AES: Yes, I believe in a safe, secure southern border, but that's very different than what ICE does every day. I've been very clear, I think we need to abolish ICE. The idea that you have masked folks who don't have to fully identify themselves running around with weapons of war on our peaceful streets, moving into preschools. or clinics. or places of worship to enforce immigration policies inconsistent with the Constitution itself. And so, you know, look, I think we can have immigration enforcement. We just can't do it by breaking the Constitution. And so I think we need to abolish ICE, and I think we need to go back to a form that's a lot more similar to INS.
The other thing we need to do is make sure that we're not lying to people. You give them something like temporary protected status, and then pull it away and then declare that somehow they've been “illegal” all along. I think that's ridiculous. And frankly, it's costing us economic opportunities. I talked to an orchardist up north when I was out there. He was telling me how hard it is to find labor. And, you know, he's got $18 an hour jobs, just local folks don't want to work them. And more often than not, he's relied on important programs that allow guest workers to come through, but they don't want to take those jobs anymore, because they're afraid of getting detained, and not being able to challenge the circumstances of their own detention. So I think we need to do a couple things: abolish ICE, empower enforcement, safety, and security at our southern border, and then create a clear pathway to citizenship and invest in the core infrastructure that we need to actually work people through that process.
AB: Guns are a part of life in America, and so too is gun violence. Would you tell us if there's any federal legislation that you think should be in place around firearms?
AES: Look, I think there are some obvious things. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, but it doesn't mean any gun for anyone, anywhere, anytime. That that was never the intent of the framers of the Constitution. So the question that we have to start asking ourselves is, “All right, what are the things that we can do to make sure that somebody who gets access to a firearm isn't intent to use it to kill other people?” And that means that maybe some guns might not be the best option. And we've got to be really thoughtful about whether or not they need to continue to be for sale, the guns that are designed to kill a lot of people very quickly.
Then you think about universal background checks, the idea that we should just know who's getting a gun and what circumstances they're getting them in. Things like red flag laws, right? So that somebody who might have a higher probability of using a gun to do something dangerous – somebody who's credibly been involved in domestic violence, for example – that those folks aren't able to just go and get a gun and do the worst thing.
I also think about the main victims of gun violence tend to be young black men in urban communities. And on that front, a lot of folks make a big deal about law enforcement. But then they defunded programs like Community Violence Intervention, which can deescalate the cycle of violence before it turns deadly. And I think we need to be invested in those things as well. So I think we need to take a comprehensive view. You know, I'm an epidemiologist, and I think about this epidemic just as that – it's an epidemic. So how do we understand what's causing it and how do we start coming together – you know, folks who own guns, folks who don't – to realize that all of our kids are at risk and we can act together to address these challenges.
