Miami
Abdul El-Sayed says Republicans are steering the race away from costs and health care while backing tougher AI oversight
The Michigan Democratic Senate nominee argued on CBS that GOP attacks are meant to shift attention from prices, tariffs and access to care. He also called for stronger public oversight of artificial intelligence.
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, said Republicans are trying to turn the campaign toward cultural fights and away from the economic and health care concerns he says voters are raising across the state.
In an interview on CBS News‘ Face the Nation, El-Sayed answered questions about repeated mentions of him at the Republican convention, including comments from Mike Johnson and attacks from his opponent Mike Rogers. He said the gathering did not focus on gas prices, grocery costs, tariffs or the difficulty many Americans face in getting medical care.
Asked several times about Hasan Piker, El-Sayed declined to dwell on the relationship and said voters he meets in Michigan are talking instead about affordability, health care, air quality and water. He argued that the campaign should be about those issues rather than a California-based online personality.
According to a separate transcript published by CBS News Miami, El-Sayed also defended his Medicare for All proposal. He said the country already spends about a fifth of its economy on health care and argued that much of that money now goes to drug companies, insurers and large hospitals. He added that he wants billionaires to pay more to help fund the system.
When asked which Republicans he could work with if elected, he named Josh Hawley as someone he could potentially find common ground with on unions and health care.
El-Sayed also addressed artificial intelligence, calling it an existential crisis and arguing for AI companies to be turned into public trust organizations with at least 50% oversight by democratically elected or appointed members. He also proposed a public agency focused on AI safety, clear prohibitions on certain uses and a pause on frontier AI research until it can be done safely.
The interview aired during a Face the Nation broadcast that also devoted significant attention to the AI debate following Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call to slow the pace of development.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
