This is the August 5, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

“It just shouldn’t be this hard to afford a bag of groceries, or to pay your rent, or ever believe you could own a home, or see a doctor in the richest, most powerful country in the world.”

— Abdul El-Sayed, winner of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, on “Morning Joe” today 

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, overcoming nearly $60 million in outside spending to defeat Rep. Haley Stevens by fewer than 20,000 votes. El-Sayed — a Rhodes Scholar, physician, and son of Egyptian immigrants who would become the first Muslim U.S. senator — joined “Morning Joe” to lay out his case against Republican Mike Rogers in November.

Willie Geist: A lot of people across the country are just learning about you this morning. Some have painted you as extreme. What is the core of your message?
AE: Get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all. We took that message to living rooms in Lansing, backyards in Grand Rapids, VFW halls in Escanaba, churches in Detroit. And everywhere I heard the same thing: It just shouldn’t be this hard. 

We need to take our democracy back, to make sure we have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people — rather than of the corporations, by the billionaires, and for the special interests.

Jonathan Lemire: Republicans say they like their chances against you. What is Rogers’ biggest flaw?
AE: He served the special interests in Congress for 14 years — took nearly $1 million from the pharmaceutical industry, voted to raise prescription drug prices, helped architect the legislation that kicked off the opioid epidemic. This is a guy who’s never seen a corporate dollar he did not want to use to corrupt his office. He made $14 million after leaving Congress, moved to Florida to play golf, and now he’s back for a second helping.

Mike Barnicle: I’m going to pretend I’m from Dearborn. I’m 43, I have two kids, my wife and I both work paycheck to paycheck. If one of my kids gets sick, we’re done. What are you going to do for me?
AE: I believe in Medicare for All. It’s the cause of my career in public service. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck and your deductible is $4,500 to $6,000, you could go into bankruptcy if your kid gets sick. We can guarantee health insurance without a premium, a copay, or a deductible — the same way we do for our seniors.

JL: You support abolishing ICE. Why?
AE: I believe in a secure border and immigration enforcement. But once a government agency is told it has impunity to violate the Constitution, I don’t think you can reform it. ICE is 15 years younger than I am. It was a bad experiment, and we need to start from scratch.

WG: AIPAC spent tens of millions to defeat you. Should the U.S. cut off military aid to Israel?
AE: I don’t believe in unconditional foreign military aid — and that includes Egypt, where my family immigrated from. Our money should be spent here rather than sent in the form of bombs to foreign governments. We’ve watched as Israel has conducted a genocide, has done apartheid, and has taken us into a war we have no business fighting. [Benjamin] Netanyahu has gotten aggressive and, frankly, bloodthirsty — and it’s impossible to say we want a two-state solution while we’re aiding, arming, and abetting the people trying to foreclose on the possibility of a Palestinian state.

WG: What is your message to Jewish voters who backed Stevens?
AE: My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. I know what it’s like to be discriminated against for how I pray — nobody should have to feel that. Whatever we may think about funding for a government 6,000 miles away, we all agree about funding for our schools two miles away.

JL: This race has been framed as a proxy fight — progressives versus moderates. Is that how you see it?
AE: This is not about the future of a party. It’s about the future of the people of Michigan, who deserve to know their roads work, that they can get healthcare, that their kids go to great schools. The things that unite us are so much bigger than the things that divide us.

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Willie Geist

Willie Geist is the host of “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist,” a co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and a regular host and contributor to “TODAY,” as well as to “Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Meet the Press.” He also contributes to the NBC Sports Group, where he hosted coverage of several Olympic Games. He is the author of three books, including The New York Times bestsellers “Good Talk, Dad” and “American Freak Show.”