海角大神

On a blustery April morning in 2007, a University of Michigan senior named Abdulrahman El-Sayed stepped onto a podium inside the famous Ann Arbor stadium and delivered a six-minute commencement speech to tens of thousands, punctuating his remarks with an emphatic 鈥淕o Blue!鈥�

A few minutes later Bill Clinton, the keynote speaker, took the same microphone: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to embarrass your senior speaker,鈥� the 42nd president said, 鈥渂ut I wish every person in the world who believes that we are fated to have a clash of civilizations, and cannot reach across the religious divides, could have heard you speak today.鈥�

After the ceremony, Dr. El-Sayed says in an interview, the former president approached him in the football stadium鈥檚 locker room. 鈥淚 hope someday you鈥檒l consider running for office,鈥� he says Mr. Clinton told him. 鈥淚 really appreciate that,鈥� El-Sayed responded. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know if you saw my first name?鈥�

Eleven years later, El-Sayed is in the middle of a potentially historic gubernatorial campaign. If elected, he would become the first Muslim governor in US history. At 33, he would also be among the youngest in decades. Campaigning on an ambitious plan to revitalize Michigan鈥檚 struggling cities, he鈥檚 emerged as a legitimate challenger for Michigan鈥檚 Democratic nomination in August, behind former Michigan Senate minority leader Gretchen Whitmer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a surprise that he鈥檚 generated a very strong and passionate following,鈥� says Michigan Democratic Party chairman Brandon Dillon. 鈥淲hen you meet him and hear him speak, you can鈥檛 help but be impressed.鈥�

El-Sayed grew up in Bloomfield Hills, a wealthy Detroit suburb, in a blended Arab-American family. Both of his parents immigrated to Michigan from Egypt, although El-Sayed grew up mostly with his father and his stepmother, a white woman from rural Michigan, both of whom worked as engineers. His childhood amounted to a very American cultural mash-up: His father was a part-time imam and one of his grandmothers was a Presbyterian deacon; he played high school football and spent summer holidays with relatives in Egypt.

It鈥檚 a background, El-Sayed says, that translates particularly well into connecting with a wide cross-section of voters. 鈥淥ne of the things that I鈥檓 very thankful for is my upbringing,鈥� he says, and 鈥淸the] ability to traverse and move through different worlds.鈥澛�

After completing two years at the University of Michigan鈥檚 medical school, he won a Rhodes Scholarship, then went on to earn a doctorate in public health from Oxford University and an M.D. from Columbia University, where he became an associate professor of epidemiology.

In 2015, with Detroit a year or so out of bankruptcy and reeling from a burgeoning water shutoff crisis, El-Sayed moved back to Michigan to lead a turnaround of the city鈥檚 public health department. He was 30 鈥� the youngest-ever top health official of a major US city. He would go on to implement programs to curb infant mortality, give thousands of students eyeglasses, and test lead levels in hundreds of schools.

Inspired by Flint, travel ban聽

In February 2017, El-Sayed announced he was quitting the post to run for governor. Weeks earlier, a newly inaugurated President Trump had signed the first version of a travel ban for residents of seven predominantly Muslim countries. El-Sayed, as a Muslim and a public health expert, says he was motivated to enter the race partly in response to both Trump-era policies and the Flint water crisis 鈥� a preventable public health disaster that investigators have linked to state government cost-cutting efforts. Thus far, 15 current or former state and City of Flint employees have been charged with crimes from misdemeanors to involuntary manslaughter after lead leached into the city鈥檚 water when the supply was switched聽to the Flint River. A examining crimes of fraud and greed is also under way.

鈥淭he ways in which government has failed people [are] myriad and diverse,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut no matter where you go people are just so frustrated.鈥�

El-Sayed is a progressive Democrat whose campaign is inspired by that of Vermont鈥檚 Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (who won Michigan鈥檚 Democratic primary). Central to El-Sayed鈥檚 message is the idea that government has been hijacked by corporate influences, and he emphasizes that he鈥檚 not accepting corporate PAC donations. He says he鈥檚 not worried about angering 鈥渁 bunch of very powerful, very rich people who usually buy elections against people like me.鈥�

He also promises a comprehensive approach to improving government. Earlier this year, El-Sayed released a detailed 鈥淯rban Agenda鈥�: , presented as a holistic approach to improving the difficult circumstances of an urban three-year-old child in Michigan, includes a push for tuition-free higher education for qualifying families and a statewide single-payer health care system, but also specific initiatives to address Detroit鈥檚 tax foreclosure epidemic, improve adult education, and upgrade the state鈥檚 drinking-water infrastructure.

Michigan has been dominated by a Republican legislature for years, and in November 2016 elected a Republican president for the first time in nearly two decades. But the state鈥檚 political climate, analysts say, could be ripe for a drastic change of course after Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, whose tenure was tarnished by the Flint water crisis. 鈥淎fter eight years of Snyder, everyone鈥檚 looking for a change,鈥� says Michigan Democratic strategist Joe DiSano, referring to the incumbent governor. 鈥淸El-Sayed] is visceral change.鈥�

He began as a relatively unknown longshot, but over the past year El-Sayed鈥檚 campaign has gained momentum. He now counts a team of some 2,500 volunteers across the state, including Sanders campaign veterans, and a war chest of more than $2 million, mostly raised from small donations.

His name recognition and support among the Muslim community is 鈥渁lmost unanimous,鈥� says Fatina Abdrabboh, executive director of the American Muslim & Minority Advocacy League.

For a community that feels targeted, the success of El-Sayed serves as a tremendously powerful counternarrative, she says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not your name that matters. It鈥檚 not what level of religiosity [you have] or your adherence to a group. It鈥檚 credentials. It鈥檚 vision. It鈥檚 platform and policy.鈥�

Campaign controversy

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the campaign has also inspired Islamophobic backlash. In one viral meme, traced to the pro-Trump Facebook page Patriots For America USA, El-Sayed is pictured straightening his tie while all-caps letters warn that 鈥淎bdul El-Sayed is running to be the first Muslim governor ... to turn all of Michigan into Dearborn!鈥� That's a reference to the largely-Arab Michigan city that鈥檚 often the target of false claims of Sharia law and racist attacks.

In late January, the campaign hit its first major controversy, when questions about El-Sayed鈥檚 eligibility surfaced in a Bridge Magazine story. Michigan鈥檚 constitution dictates that a governor has to have been a registered voter in the state at least four years before the general election. He had previously registered in Michigan as a teenager and re-registered in 2016 with a New York driver鈥檚 license. A spokesman for the聽Michigan Secretary of State has previously said that, although El-Sayed did not vote in Michigan between 2013 and 2016, he never lost his registration in the state. Although El-Sayed鈥檚 eligibility would have to be officially challenged in court, the election lawyers Bridge consulted 鈥渞aised serious questions about his legal qualifications to be on the 2018 state ballot.鈥�

In an interview, El-Sayed called the controversy a politically-motivated attempt to add an asterisk to his name. His campaign says that he鈥檚 maintained an apartment in Michigan since 2008. The state鈥檚 Democratic Party called on the campaign to clear up the issue in court to prevent last-minute chaos, and last week, the campaign filed a request for a judgment in Wayne County Circuit Court.聽

Notwithstanding eligibility questions, El-Sayed is considered the biggest challenger to Ms. Whitmer, a former state senator, although analysts say the race remains open. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very early,鈥� says Mr. Dillon, the Democratic Party chairman. 鈥淲e expect it to be a competitive primary.鈥�