Far-left Michigan Senate candidate faces ‘champagne socialism’ accusations
‘Outnumbered’ discusses far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his ‘champagne socialism’ accusations. His reported 2025 household income, $686,069, is significantly higher than Michigan’s median income. The segment also highlights his controversial association with streamer Hasan Piker, known for his 9/11 comments.
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Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has been intensely critical of the wealthy while on the campaign trail, makes enough money to put him and his wife in the top 1% of households in his state.
El-Sayed and his wife collectively earned $686,069 in 2025, according to recently released tax returns. To make it into the top 1% of earners in Michigan, households need to bring in just over $611,500, according to IRS data analyzed by Axios.
“For people who have accumulated so much wealth that your money makes money, at some point, we’re like, ‘well we can’t possibly tax them,’” El-Sayed said at an August 2025 campaign event. “If I told you how much wealth is held by the 300,000 most wealthy Americans in this country, it would blow your mind … so if we put a tax on wealth it would return a lot of that money back into public use.”
DEM SENATE HOPEFUL ABDUL EL-SAYED RECOUNTS SMASHING VODKA BOTTLE AFTER BEARD CRITICISM
Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed has spent his campaign denying he wanted to defund the police, but in an unearthed clip he questioned “Do police really need to use guns?” (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
The released return also lists $262,299 in capital gains, even as El-Sayed has criticized extreme wealth by arguing that some Americans have so much money that their “money makes money.” The Senate hopeful, who reported owning two rental properties worth $750,000 in 2025, has also been critical of “greedy landlords.”
El-Sayed, however, has reserved most of his criticism for billionaires, a category that does not encompass his own level of wealth.
“So a lot of folks are like, ‘well, Abdul, you know, you just don’t want people to get rich.’ No! I don’t begrudge anyone their millions,” El-Sayed said at a campaign event. “But I do begrudge everyone their billions.”
BILL MAHER CALLS OUT BERNIE SANDERS, SAYS HE’S TIRED OF HEARING THE RICH DON’T PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stands with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after speaking at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Mich. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
Some of El-Sayed’s biggest supporters in Congress, however, have been directly critical of the 1% that El-Sayed is a part of.
Sanders, a self-described socialist who endorsed El-Sayed on the same day he launched his campaign for Michigan’s Senate seat, has long railed against “the 1%” as a malign influence on American politics. The Vermont senator also endorsed El-Sayed’s 2018 bid for Michigan governor.
“Extreme wealth is an existential threat to our economy and our democracy and it demands a crisis-level response,” his campaign website reads. “Abdul supports taxing billionaire wealth akin to policies proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Ro Khanna, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and will champion proposals that will reduce the wealth and power of the ultra-rich and return it to working people.”
DEM SENATE HOPEFUL’S PINK-GLOVED MELTDOWN RESURFACES AFTER VIRAL PEP TALK IGNITED MOCKERY
Streamer Hasan Piker, left, and Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, center right, take a selfie with young fans following a campaign event, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
A portion of El-Sayed’s household income comes from his wife’s psychiatry practice, which attracted criticism after a webpage belonging to the practice reportedly claimed that it did not accept insurance.
His reported household income is far higher than the $237,000 in gross income disclosed during his 2018 gubernatorial run, according to prior reporting. Despite his left-wing rhetoric, El-Sayed spends his sizable income on upscale items, most visibly wristwatches ranging in value from $2,000 to $10,000, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
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The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.