Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is scrambling to distance himself from the socialist label ahead of the August 4 primary, even as he campaigns arm-in-arm with the Democratic Party's most prominent self-described socialists.
El-Sayed sat down with former White House press secretary Jen Psaki on MSNBC's MS NOW this week and delivered a flat denial when pressed on his ideological alignment. Psaki pointed to his new campaign ad featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and his close relationship with Sen. Bernie Sanders, both of whom identify as democratic socialists, and asked the candidate to explain the gap between his allies and his self-description. Fox News reported that El-Sayed responded with a single line: "Because I'm simply not a socialist."
That answer may play well on cable news. But it runs headlong into a public record that includes six appearances at Democratic Socialists of America events between 2017 and 2020, a headlining slot at a DSA fundraiser that pulled in $10,000, and DSA organizers publicly calling him "a longtime friend of Detroit DSA."
El-Sayed's ties to the DSA stretch back to at least 2017, when he first appeared at the organization's events during his run for Michigan governor. Over the next three years, he spoke at six DSA gatherings focused on issues like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, signature planks of the democratic socialist platform.
The 2019 fundraiser stands out. El-Sayed headlined the event, which raised $10,000 for the DSA. He was photographed alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a self-described socialist, behind a table displaying a DSA poster that depicted a hand labeled "DSA" choking a snake labeled "capitalism."
That image is hard to square with the candidate's recent insistence that he believes capitalism works. Sanders and AOC have rallied behind El-Sayed's campaign in a primary that has fractured Michigan Democrats along progressive-versus-establishment lines.
El-Sayed has tried to put daylight between himself and the DSA in other interviews as well. He told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, "I'm not technically or practically DSA." In a separate CNN appearance, he said, "I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated."
Psaki, to her credit, did not let El-Sayed's initial denial stand unchallenged. She pushed back directly, noting that socialists also claim to believe in science and asking him to spell out the concrete difference between his version of capitalism and the democratic socialism championed by his most visible supporters.
El-Sayed's answer leaned heavily on process language. He said he believes in "empirical results" and described himself as someone who is "not an ideologue." He argued that capitalism fails when monopolies or oligopolies dominate, and that Medicare for All, a government-run insurance system, represents "the best single way to provide folks healthcare in this country."
"I know that capitalism works, I just know that it does not work when you have monopolies or oligopolies."
When Psaki warned that Republicans would brand him a democratic socialist if he won the primary, El-Sayed pivoted to offense. "We're so concerned about what they're going to say about us that we forget that we also have mouths and can talk about that," he said, before calling presumptive Republican nominee Mike Rogers "the worst kind of corporatist."
The pivot was revealing. Rather than offer a substantive policy distinction between his platform and the DSA's, El-Sayed changed the subject to his opponent. That is the move of a candidate who knows the label fits closer than he'd like voters to believe.
El-Sayed's credibility on self-description has already taken hits from another direction. His campaign faced scrutiny over his years-long claim to be a physician despite questions about his medical licensing history, a controversy that his Republican opponent's campaign has seized on.
Mike Rogers' communications director, Alyssa Brouillet, wasted no time responding. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Brouillet invoked the obvious comparison.
"We all know that if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. This election is about crazy versus common sense. Mike Rogers will hold the line against the Left's socialist takeover and ensure common sense prevails this November."
Brouillet also tied the socialist question to the physician controversy, saying, "It's no surprise that the same guy who lied about being a physician is lying about everything else." She added that Rogers had released a healthcare plan focused on affordability, accessibility, and transparency for working families, drawing a contrast with El-Sayed's push for a government-run insurance model.
The Rogers campaign framed the broader race as a chance to end what it called Democrats' "32-year monopoly over Michigan's two Senate seats." That claim underscores the stakes for Republicans, who see Michigan as a genuine pickup opportunity, provided Democrats nominate a candidate vulnerable to ideological attacks.
The Democratic primary itself has been anything but unified. Sen. Elizabeth Warren broke with Senate leadership to endorse El-Sayed, while Sen. John Fetterman went the opposite direction, publicly refusing to back El-Sayed and criticizing him in sharp terms. The split illustrates just how deep the fault lines run inside the party heading into August 4.
El-Sayed debated his primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, on Wednesday night. Fox News reported the two clashed on several issues, though specific details of the exchange were not available. The debate added another layer to a primary that has become a proxy fight between the Democratic Party's progressive wing and its establishment center.
The consolidation of the race into a two-candidate contest after other candidates exited has sharpened the ideological stakes. El-Sayed now carries the progressive banner alone, backed by Sanders, AOC, and Warren, a coalition that reads like a DSA endorsement slate, whether El-Sayed accepts the label or not.
El-Sayed's argument boils down to this: he supports Medicare for All, government investment in schools and infrastructure, and tighter regulation of corporate power, but he is a capitalist, not a socialist, because he cares about "empirical results" rather than ideology. The distinction is thin enough to see through. Every policy he named in the Psaki interview sits squarely on the democratic socialist platform. The endorsements he courts come from politicians who proudly wear the label. And his own history includes raising money under a banner depicting socialism strangling capitalism.
Voters can call that whatever they like. But when a candidate headlines DSA fundraisers, campaigns with DSA-aligned politicians, and runs on DSA priorities, insisting he is "simply not a socialist" asks Michigan voters to ignore what is right in front of them.
