700 doctors endorse Abdul El-Sayed as GOP attacks his credentials
700 doctors endorse Abdul El-Sayed as GOP attacks his credentials
Craig Mauger, The Detroit NewsTue, October 20, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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LANSING — More than 700 Michigan doctors have signed a letter supporting Democrat Abdul El-Sayed as Republicans accuse the U.S. Senate hopeful of overstating his medical experience.
The letter, released to The Detroit News on Oct. 20, was organized by the Committee to Protect Health Care, which previously endorsed El-Sayed. In total, more than 1,000 Michigan health care professionals, including surgeons, pediatricians and registered nurses, signed the message.
It came two weeks before the election and a day before El-Sayed, a former public health official from Ann Arbor, and Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake will meet for their second televised debate.
"As Detroit's health officer, he rebuilt a department hollowed out by decades of disinvestment, expanded access to care in some of the state's most underserved neighborhoods and led the city's response to public health emergencies most physicians never encounter in an entire career," the new letter said. "That is medicine, practiced at scale, and it is exactly the kind of clinical judgment Michigan needs in the United States Senate."
While El-Sayed earned a medical degree from Columbia University and previously worked for the Detroit and Wayne County health departments, he does not hold a medical license to practice as a physician in Michigan. El-Sayed, who also has a doctorate degree in public health from the University of Oxford, has said he chose not to do a medical residency after med school and instead pursued a career in public health.
"He's not really a doctor," Rogers said during Michigan's first U.S. Senate debate on Oct. 8. "He says he's a physician ... Matter of fact, if somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he'd go to jail."
The fight over El-Sayed's credentials has become a recurring theme of the Senate race.
At another point during the Oct. 8 debate, El-Sayed touted his efforts to expand access to health care. Guaranteeing coverage through a government-funded Medicare for All program has been one of El-Sayed's signature issues.
"As a doctor, I understand exactly what's happening," El-Sayed said during the last debate.
"Not a physician," Rogers responded. "Not a physician."
During a Fox News town hall in St. Clair Shores on Oct. 19 — the event featured Rogers and Republican candidate for governor John James — host Sean Hannity also targeted El-Sayed's credentials.
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"He calls himself a physician," Hannity said. "He's not a physician."
The new letter from medical professionals in Michigan might help El-Sayed counter the GOP statements.
"We are proud to stand with a colleague who has dedicated his career, in every sense of the word, to the health of our state," the letter said. "We ask our fellow Michiganders to join us in supporting Dr. Abdul El-Sayed for United States Senate."
El-Sayed has previously said he made a choice to take on systemic health care issues instead of treating patients in the traditional way people view doctors' work.
According to El-Sayed's LinkedIn page, he previously worked as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia and as executive director of Detroit's health department. He was director of Wayne County's Health, Human and Veteran Services Department for about two years beginning in 2025.
"It's time for public health to go back on the offensive," El-Sayed said in a 2023 interview with The News about his Wayne County position.
Farhan Bhatti, a family physician in Lansing and the Michigan lead for the Committee to Protect Health Care, said in a statement that El-Sayed has a "fierce commitment to ensuring Americans have access to affordable, quality health care."
“Michigan physicians and medical professionals are stating loudly and clearly that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is our choice for U.S. Senate this November," Bhatti said.
A spokesman for the Michigan State Medical Society didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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cmauger@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: 700 doctors endorse Abdul El-Sayed as GOP attacks his credentials
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