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Fierce Israel critic launches Senate bid in Michigan high-stakes 2026 midterm race
A former Michigan public health official and Democratic candidate for governor entered the race for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat on Thursday in what could be one of the most watched races in the 2026 midterm elections.
Abdul El-Sayed, 40, is the second Democrat to put his name in the running to replace Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is not seeking reelection.
El-Sayed, a prominent figure in a movement that was highly critical of support for Israel in the 2024 election cycle, aims to set himself apart from the other Democratic candidates in the race to replace Peters, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
McMorrow has said she would vote against Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., retaining his leadership position should she prevail in the primary and general election to represent the battleground state in the upper chamber of Congress.
However, El-Sayed held back criticism of Schumer.
«Anybody who tells you that they’re going to unilaterally oppose one potential candidate without knowing who the alternative is, is either unnuanced or unsophisticated,» El-Sayed told Politico. «So I want to know who is available, who is actively seeking the leadership. I’ll make a decision from there.»
GRETCHEN WHITMER RIBBED ONLINE FOR SEEMING TO HIDE FACE IN OVAL OFFICE
Michigan Democratic then-gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigns with support from New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a rally on the campus of Wayne State University on July 28, 2018, in Detroit. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
«What we need right now is somebody who’s willing to take the fight directly to Trump and Musk, but then also knows how to rebuild a version of our federal government that better serves working people after the carnage that Musk and Trump are going to leave behind, and I think I offer that,» he told Politico.
Other Democrats considering a run to replace Peters include U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
El-Sayed was active in the «uncommited movement,» a group of anti-Israel, traditionally Democratic voters in Michigan, a critical swing state, who threatened to withhold support from then-President Joe Biden, and then then-Vice President Kamala Harris, over the administration’s stance on Gaza. He did say he would back whoever was the eventual Democratic choice for the presidential ticket to oppose now-President Donald Trump, according to Politico.
The Israel-Hamas war exposed deep divisions within the Democratic Party last election cycle, and there is concern the conflict could again make for a messy Senate Democratic primary in Michigan if the American Israel Public Affairs Committee intervenes. The powerful pro-Israel lobby group financially backed Stevens in 2022, when redistricting forced a competitive primary run against fellow Democrat, Rep. Andy Levin.
«Everybody is unified around leadership that reminds the Democratic Party that we ought to be the party of peace and justice, that we ought not to be the party sending bombs and money to foreign militaries to drop bombs on other people’s kids in their schools and their hospitals, when our kids need more, our hospitals and schools need more, and we should be spending that money here at home,» El-Sayed told Politico.
Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a coronavirus public health roundtable with presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday, March 9, 2020. (Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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El-Sayed ran for governor in 2018 as a progressive Democrat and was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
He came in second in the Democratic primary, losing to Gretchen Whitmer by more than 20 points and beating now-U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar by more than 12 points. Whitmer went on to win the general election and is in the midst of a second term. She cannot run again because of term limits.
A resident of Ann Arbor, El-Sayed recently served as director of the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services in Wayne County, home to Detroit. Before that, he was the public health director of the city after it declared bankruptcy in 2013.
El-Sayed cautioned Democrats against learning the «wrong lessons» from their defeats.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders participates in a coronavirus public health roundtable with healthcare professionals, including Abdul El-Sayed, left, as he campaigns on March 9, 2020, in Detroit. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
«If you cut corners and trim your message, and you triangulate to the least common denominator, you can find something that’s perfectly inoffensive to everyone, and the problem with that is that you’re not actually saying anything,» he told Politico.
El-Sayed said he met with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Tuesday. He told Politico that it was his «understanding» that the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm would not get involved in the primary. If that happens, that deviates from how the DSCC previously acted to clear the field of potential primary candidates to make for an easier primary victory for then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Now-Sen. Slotkin, D-Mich., easily won the primary over Hill Harper, and then won the general election.
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El-Sayed is also the second candidate this week to launch a campaign to replace Peters. On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers launched his bid on Monday after losing the Senate race last year by 19,000 votes to Democrat Slotkin.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, one of the leading Republican contenders for governor, has filed a lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, challenging the legality of his GOP rival’s campaign funding.
Carr asked a federal judge to permanently block Jones’ ability to spend money from his leadership committee, a fundraising tool that allows the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and legislative leaders to raise unlimited funds.
Both men are leading Republican candidates to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp after next year’s election.
Carr argues that Jones’ leadership committee violates the attorney general’s First Amendment right to free speech and his 14th Amendment right to equal protection by setting up a campaign finance structure that boosts Jones and limits how much Carr can spend on his campaign. A 2021 state law that created leadership committees does not allow Carr or other declared candidates to have access to the fundraising vehicle.
Carr’s regular campaign committee is limited to raising $8,400 from each donor for his primary campaign and $4,200 for a potential primary runoff.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, pictured here, sued Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over the legality of the lieutenant governor’s campaign funding. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Carr campaign spokeswoman Julia Mazzone said in a statement that Jones «is using his position to sidestep contribution limits, raise six-figure checks during legislative sessions and funnel unlimited money into a competitive primary through a structure only he can access.»
«Republicans cannot ignore the cloud of unethical, illegal and corrupt behavior that surrounds Burt Jones,» Mazzone said.
«Leadership committees were never intended to be unregulated campaign machines,» the statement added. «The court has ruled on this before, and the Constitution prohibits exactly what’s happening here. We’re taking action to uphold transparency and accountability standards.»
A Jones campaign spokesperson, meanwhile, has accused Carr of being hypocritical since his office previously defended the same law that he is now challenging in court. Carr has argued that the attorney general must defend challenged laws even if he personally disagrees with them.
«Georgia’s lackluster Attorney General defended this law two years ago,» Kendyl Parker, Jones’ spokeswoman said. «Now, he’s running for governor and wants to challenge the same law he once defended. If hypocrisy were an Olympic sport, he’d take gold.»
Carr launched his gubernatorial bid last year, saying he needed more time to raise money because he is not personally wealthy. His campaign has expressed concerns for months that Jones will use his leadership committee and family wealth to support his primary campaign.
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Georgia AG Chris Carr asked a federal judge to permanently block Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ ability to spend money from the lieutenant governor’s leadership committee. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Carr campaign has sought to have the state Ethics Commission probe the source of a $10 million loan Jones made to his leadership committee, although the commission declined to launch an investigation, noting that Carr failed to allege a legal violation.
The attorney general’s campaign pointed to U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen’s 2022 ruling that a leadership committee for Kemp could not use money for Kemp’s re-election campaign during that year’s Republican primary. Cohen found that the «unequal campaign finance scheme» violated GOP primary challenger and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s First Amendment right to free speech.
Cohen ruled that Kemp could continue raising money for the leadership committee but said the governor could not spend it against Perdue in the primary.
«Despite full knowledge of this history, Mr. Jones and his leadership committee, WBJ Leadership Committee, Inc., are ignoring this Court’s prior rulings and using a leadership committee—that has no contribution or coordinated spending limits—in a primary election against a candidate without one,» Carr’s lawsuit reads.
Carr is seeking additional restrictions on Jones’ leadership committee than in Cohen’s ruling. The attorney general is asking a judge to cut off both fundraising and spending from the lieutenant governor’s leadership committee until the primary race is over.
He is also requesting that a federal magistrate judge be appointed to oversee all spending by the leadership committee and that Jones’ regular campaign committee repay any money already spent by the leadership committee to support Jones’ gubernatorial run.
«The loan and its amount are significant because Mr. Jones is also able to raise unlimited funds into the leadership committee, then repay the loan from funds raised that then can be applied directly to his campaign account, effectively removing the contribution limits from those dollars,» the lawsuit says.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ campaign criticized Georgia AG Chris Carr as a hypocrite since his office defended the same law in 2022 that he is now challenging in court. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Carr asks that the court block Jones from giving any cash to dark money groups or making any loans to his regular campaign committee during the primary. He also wants the magistrate judge to probe where Jones’ $10 million loan came from, citing a 2022 financial disclosure showing that Jones did not have enough liquid assets for a loan of that quantity.
The attorney general’s campaign continues to express concern that Jones could raise unlimited money to repay his loan and then give the repaid money to his candidate committee for the primary, arguing that this would wreck campaign contribution restrictions.
«Mr. Jones is raising and spending unlimited amounts of money in the primary—and Mr. Carr is limited in what he can raise by Georgia’s existing campaign contribution limits,» the lawsuit reads. «This Court should level this uneven playing field by preventing Mr. Jones from using his leadership committee during the primary election.»
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Carr’s campaign has also called on the Ethics Commission for an advisory legal opinion on whether Jones’ fundraising activity is legal.
The Republican primary will be held in May, and the general election next year in the purple state is expected to be one of the most expensive governor’s races in the country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Trump could be happening as soon as next week.
Fox News can report that officials are tentatively planning for a Trump-Putin summit at the end of next week, according to a source familiar with the planning. The location is still up in the air but Hungary, Switzerland, Rome and the United Arab Emirates are in the mix, Fox News is told.
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President Donald Trump is expected to meet in person with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, possibly next week. (Getty Images)
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The summit could still ultimately fall apart as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed officials of the terms of the Ukrainian Constitution which mandate a national referendum for any territorial concessions.
U.S. President Donald Trump (C) and Vice President JD Vance meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A meeting between Putin and Trump would be their first since Trump returned to office this year. It would be a significant milestone in the 3-year-old war, though there’s no promise such a meeting would lead to the end of the fighting since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on their demands.
Trump, appearing before reporters later at the White House, didn’t answer questions about a potential location for a meeting but when asked about a summit with Putin and Zelenskyy, said «there’s a very good prospect that they will» meet.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 28, 2025. (SERGEI ILYIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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The president declined to predict how close he was to reaching a deal to end the fighting, saying, «I’ve been disappointed before with this one.»
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Bomberos en un hospital para tuberculosos tras el impacto de una bomba rusa en el techo en Járkov, Ucrania, el viernes 25 de julio de 2025. El presidente ruso, Vladímir Putin, lleva tiempo afirmando su deseo de reunirse con el presidente Trump. La razón: cree que dicha reunión, más que un simple avance en el campo de batalla, es su mejor oportunidad para asegurar la victoria en su guerra contra Ucrania. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)Giro
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