Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed told Americans to move to Canada for the American dream

A Michigan Democrat running for U.S. Senate once told his podcast listeners that anyone who wants to achieve the American dream should pack up and move to Canada, a claim that sits awkwardly next to the economic data.

Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and Democratic candidate for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat, made the remarks during a May 2023 episode of his podcast "America Dissected." In the episode, El-Sayed argued that upward economic mobility is "twice as likely" in Canada and that too few Americans have the starting resources to climb the economic ladder. The comments drew fresh attention after conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted what he called "unearthed audio" of El-Sayed on X on September 1, 2026.

The resurfaced clip lands at a pointed moment. El-Sayed is actively campaigning for a Senate seat in Michigan, and just this week he defended Canada in its ongoing trade dispute with President Trump, using language that would raise eyebrows in most living rooms, let alone on a campaign trail.

El-Sayed's own words paint a grim picture of American opportunity

On the May 2023 podcast, El-Sayed laid out his case bluntly. As the New York Post reported, he told listeners:

"Contrary to what we're taught: that we are the land of opportunity, where anyone with a dollar in a dream can make it. In fact, too few people have that first dollar."

He then offered his prescription:

"Economic data shows us that if you want to achieve the American dream, well, you should move to Canada because it's twice as likely there. Here, where you start predicts where you end."

El-Sayed did not name the specific study or dataset behind his "twice as likely" claim. The podcast episode itself did not provide a citation that the Post identified.

What the available data does show cuts against El-Sayed's broader framing. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development figures for 2024 put America's median household disposable income at $66,155. Canada's median household disposable income that same year: $36,487, barely more than half the American figure. The United States also carries a lower unemployment rate, higher GDP per capita, and faster economic growth than Canada, despite a far larger population.

A Senate candidate telling voters the American dream lives north of the border is a striking message. It is even more striking when the household income gap between the two countries runs nearly $30,000 in America's favor.

At a press conference, El-Sayed doubled down on defending Canada

The podcast remarks might have stayed buried if El-Sayed had not drawn fresh attention to his views on Canada this week. At a press conference, the date and location of which were not specified, El-Sayed weighed in on the U.S.-Canada trade dispute with President Trump.

His words were not diplomatic. "If you're starting a trade war with Canada [it] is cause you're the a**hole," El-Sayed told reporters.

That kind of language from a Senate candidate, aimed squarely at the sitting president's trade policy, does not exactly project the seriousness Michigan voters might expect from someone seeking one of the state's two most powerful federal offices. El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment on the resurfaced podcast audio.

El-Sayed is not new to controversy. A resurfaced interview previously showed him describing Sharia compliance as a lifelong "obligation," and this pattern of old statements surfacing at inconvenient moments suggests a candidate whose public record has not been fully examined until now.

Johnson's post reignited the debate over El-Sayed's loyalties

Benny Johnson's September 1 post on X framed the audio as evidence of a broader pattern. "All he does is glorify foreign countries while..." Johnson wrote, though the full text of his post was truncated. The clip itself contained El-Sayed's own voice making the Canada remarks, and the Post's reporting quoted the same podcast passages independently.

For a candidate already facing scrutiny over his donor relationships, an FEC review found El-Sayed collected over $115,000 from CAIR-linked donors, the resurfaced audio adds another layer of questions about where his sympathies lie.

El-Sayed spoke at a unity rally in Detroit on August 7, 2026, as part of his Senate campaign. But unity is a harder sell when a candidate's recorded words tell Americans their dream is better pursued in another country.

The broader Democratic Party has its own tensions over candidates who veer into rhetoric that sounds more like progressive activism than mainstream campaigning. Party leaders have already had to scramble to distance themselves from far-left elements gaining ground in primaries, and El-Sayed's remarks fit neatly into that pattern.

OECD numbers undercut the "move to Canada" pitch

El-Sayed's argument rested on a claim about economic mobility, that where you start in America predicts where you end, and that Canada offers a better shot at climbing. He did not address the raw standard-of-living gap between the two countries.

The OECD's own household disposable income data tells a straightforward story. An American household in 2024 had nearly $30,000 more in disposable income than a Canadian one. That gap is not a rounding error. It represents the difference between a family that can absorb an unexpected car repair and one that cannot.

Mobility statistics can be sliced many ways, and reasonable people can debate which measures matter most. But a candidate for the United States Senate who responds to that debate by telling people to leave the country is not offering policy. He is offering a bumper sticker, and one that insults the voters he is asking to send him to Washington.

Even some Democrats have shown they understand the limits of anti-American framing. Senator John Fetterman, for instance, has been willing to break with his own party when he believes the party line has drifted too far from common sense. El-Sayed, by contrast, appears to be drifting further.

No response from the campaign

The Post noted that El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. That silence leaves the podcast audio and the press conference quote as the candidate's most recent public statements on the subject.

Michigan voters will decide whether a man who told Americans to chase their dreams in Canada deserves a seat in the chamber that shapes American trade, tax, and immigration policy. The question answers itself.

If El-Sayed thinks the American dream lives in Canada, Michigan voters might suggest he run for office there instead.