A group of left-leaning New York Democrats with ties to Mayor Zohran Mamdani is throwing a Manhattan fundraiser next month for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, according to an event flyer. The gathering is set for October 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. at a venue on the Bowery, with donations of up to $57,500 per contributor.
The event was reported by the New York Post, which listed the fundraiser's co-hosts as jewelry designer Alexis Bittar, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, Brad Lander, Jamaal Bowman, Chi Ossé, Andrew Bard Esptein and Zara Rahim. Epstein told the paper simply, “I'm just helping a candidate I believe in.” Contributors can give up to $57,500 to the Abdul Michigan Victory Fund, per the flyer, and whether Mamdani himself plans to attend or meet with El-Sayed while he's in town was unclear, the Post reported.
El-Sayed, a public health physician who led the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017 in the years after the city's municipal bankruptcy and later ran Wayne County's Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services from 2022 to 2025, is running to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. He faces Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers, who represented Michigan's 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, according to Ballotpedia. Rogers also previously worked as an FBI special agent, and Republicans have not won a Michigan Senate race since Spencer Abraham in 1994.
A Primary Win Built on a Knife's Edge
El-Sayed's path to the general election was anything but smooth. He edged establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens by just 14,893 votes, a 48.5% to 47.5% margin, in the August 4 Democratic primary, overcoming more than $50 million in outside spending for Stevens, including more than $30 million from AIPAC, according to reporting cited by Planet Detroit. Turnout in that primary topped 1.5 million voters statewide.
That narrow victory left El-Sayed with two problems heading into the fall: mending fences with establishment Democrats who backed his primary rivals, and closing a fundraising gap against conservative outside groups. Elon Musk's America PAC poured more than $1 million into digital ads and mailers in Michigan in early September to boost Rogers and attack El-Sayed's progressive record, Hoodline previously reported, citing the Detroit News.
Michigan Attorney General Backs the Nominee
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she will vote for El-Sayed after withholding support over concerns about his positions on Israel.
A recent New York Times/Siena University poll had El-Sayed ahead of Rogers 49% to 44%, per Forbes, underscoring why out-of-state fundraising stops like the Manhattan event carry real weight for a campaign trying to hold onto momentum through November.
Opposition Attacks Focus on Middle East Views
El-Sayed has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and opposes U.S. military aid to the country, positions that largely mirror those of Mamdani, according to the Post's reporting. Commentator Hassan Piker said in 2019 that America deserved the September 11 attacks, a remark that El-Sayed responded to, POLITICO reported.
If El-Sayed wins in November, he would become the first Muslim member in the history of the U.S. Senate, according to Wikipedia, a milestone that would echo Mamdani's own history-making run as New York City's first Muslim mayor. Fundraiser co-host Brad Lander, who served four years as New York City Comptroller, won his own primary for New York's 10th Congressional District in June with Mamdani's endorsement, ousting incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman, according to City & State New York.
Michigan's open Senate seat is one of 11 contested nationwide in 2026, and both parties have treated it as a proving ground for their broader midterm strategies. With the general election roughly six weeks away, the Manhattan fundraiser reflects how central out-of-state donor networks have become to the Michigan Senate race.
