Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed defended his past statements on defunding the police during a Sunday appearance on CNN's "Inside Politics," pushing back against what he described as a fixation on a single word rather than the substance of his proposals. The exchange highlighted a recurring political vulnerability for the Democratic hopeful as he seeks to unseat incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow in the 2024 primary.
CNN host Manu Raju confronted El-Sayed with a resurfaced radio interview from 2020, in which the candidate explicitly called for defunding the police in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests. In that interview, El-Sayed said, "I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating or killing them on the streets, and in investing more in the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty."
El-Sayed argued that his comments were taken out of context and that he had clearly defined what he meant by the term. "You know, what's interesting about that comment is I go as far as defining what I mean by that," he told Raju. "Do you disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services? You fixate on the word 'defund,' but what I'm talking about is war material that we made too much of during the war in Iraq. And then, because we had too much of it, we had to find somewhere to sell it. So we sold it to a whole bunch to local police departments."
The candidate, a physician and former director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, emphasized his support for law enforcement while calling for a rethinking of public safety strategies. He noted that he has worked closely with police during his time in Wayne County and believes in investing in retention and retirement for officers. "I actually don't think it is," El-Sayed responded when Raju asked whether the defunding issue could hurt his electability. "I think the vast majority of people agree that they want to get home safely every night. I think the way that we have thought about law enforcement is we answer every social problem with somebody with a gun."
El-Sayed elaborated on his vision for public safety, advocating for sending trained mental health professionals to certain emergency calls instead of armed officers. "So maybe instead of investing in war material for police, we invest in a safe retirement for them," he said. "And then, instead of sending a guy with a gun, we actually send a trained mental health professional. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I defined."
The controversy over El-Sayed's position on defunding the police has persisted throughout his campaign. Earlier this month, CNN reported that El-Sayed had deleted several tweets from 2020 that criticized law enforcement and appeared to support the defunding movement. One June 2020 post on X read: "Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about."
When asked about those tweets earlier in the month, El-Sayed denied that he had ever supported defunding the police, saying, "Judge me by my work, I funded the system because it needed to be funded. Too often the conversation we have is fund or defund. The question that we don't ask is, what kind of system do we really want? I want us to be investing in the kinds of interventions that actually protect people."
The defunding debate has become a central issue in the Michigan Senate race, with Republicans seizing on El-Sayed's past comments to paint him as out of step with mainstream voters. The candidate has sought to frame his position as a pragmatic approach to public safety, arguing that his focus on mental health and community investment aligns with what most Americans want. However, the resurfaced clips and deleted tweets have provided ammunition for his opponents, who argue that his current denials contradict his earlier statements.
El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The primary election is expected to be closely contested, with El-Sayed facing several other Democratic candidates, including actor Hill Harper and businessman Nasser Beydoun. The winner will likely face a tough general election battle in a state that has become a key battleground in national politics.
