analysis

Recent spots by Abdul El-Sayed and Vivek Ramaswamy show a choice between service and cruelty

Published October 23, 2026 12:20PM (EDT)

Vivek Ramaswamy, left, and Abdul El-Sayed (Illustration by Salon / Getty Images / Michael M. Santiago / Finn Gomez / Thom Lang / Aleksandra Konoplia)

“My name is Abdul; it means servant.” So begins the most compelling ad of this year’s election cycle. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed speaks, simply and directly, to the camera. Seated in a brown leather armchair while holding a coffee mug, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee lays claim to his Muslim faith in straightforward, affecting terms.

“I pray everyday,” he says. “I reflect on my role in this life, on this earth, how we leave it better than we found it, to serve God, to serve our neighbors.”

A cloud of suspicion, much of it tangled up in his ethnicity and religion, has hovered over El-Sayed’s candidacy. The othering has been both blatant and subtle. In August, I spoke with Sen.…