{"id":481024,"date":"2026-10-01T00:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/481024\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T00:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:32:27","slug":"abdul-el-sayed-michigan-progressive-star-rallies-with-nurses-in-sf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/481024\/","title":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan Progressive Star, Rallies With Nurses in SF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Medicare for All and stronger AI regulations are among the priorities for the U.S. Senate hopeful, who declined to weigh in on California\u2019s proposed billionaire tax.<\/p>\n<p>Sep 30, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Updated 4:53 pm PT<\/p>\n<p>Laura Fitzgerald<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/260930-ELSAYEDINSF-00254_TV-KQED.jpg\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed makes an appearance at the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses Organizing Committee convention at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco on Sept. 30, 2026.\u00a0(T\u00e2m V\u0169\/KQED)<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Michigan Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12094274\/what-abdul-el-sayeds-michigan-primary-win-means-for-california-democrats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Abdul El-Sayed<\/a> arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday with a message for California\u2019s largest nurses union:<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">\u201cWhen they say we can have guaranteed healthcare through Medicare for All, we won\u2019t back down,\u201d El-Sayed shouted from the stage at a convention of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">The up-and-coming progressive icon is locked in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, one that will help determine which party controls the chamber following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/tag\/2026-midterms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">midterm elections<\/a>. El-Sayed is also tapping into his rising political profile to rally for progressive causes in California. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">Both El-Sayed and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who appeared at the convention virtually, made the case for Medicare for All in a packed ballroom of unionized nurses. Attendees jumped to their feet when Sanders appeared on screen and again to cheer for El-Sayed, who wore a denim jacket embroidered with the nurses union\u2019s red logos.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/260930-ELSAYEDINSF-00909_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102175\"  \/>Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses Organizing Committee convention at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco on Sept. 30, 2026.\u00a0(T\u00e2m V\u0169\/KQED)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/260930-ELSAYEDINSF-00214_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102170\"\/>Bernie Sanders speaks through video at the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses Organizing Committee convention at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco on Sept. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/260930-ELSAYEDINSF-00323_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12102172\"\/>Attendees listen to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speak at the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses Organizing Committee convention at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco on Sept. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">\u201cBernie Sanders and our union, our organization, go way back,\u201d said Cathy Kennedy, a retired nurse and president of National Nurses United. \u201cSo, the values that we have as nurses, our vision for a healthy society, Senator Sanders has been in the forefront of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former public health official, is also pushing for a single-payer healthcare system as a main pillar of his political platform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">\u201cThey are the values of this organization \u2026 Medicare for All, because it is a human right, not just for the privileged,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">The California Nurses Association has long pushed for a single-payer healthcare system in California, though multiple legislative attempts in Sacramento have fallen short. The organization is backing candidates for federal office who share their vision as healthcare providers grapple with increased workloads and a rapidly growing cost of living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"blocks-v1-Paragraph-__Paragraph__paragraph wp-block wp-block-paragraph container\">The union is also calling for stronger regulations around the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/forum\/2010101912867\/ucsfs-dr-bob-wachter-on-ais-healthcare-transformation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">artificial intelligence tools<\/a> for staffing, scheduling and data collection in the healthcare delivery system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Medicare for All and stronger AI regulations are among the priorities for the U.S. Senate hopeful, who declined&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-481024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}