Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed collected $9,000 a month in consulting fees billed to taxpayers while he was running for public office, according to a Washington Free Beacon report. The arrangement is now drawing attention in Michigan’s Senate race.

The Wayne County Health and Veterans Department contracted El-Sayed on April 23, 2025, the newspaper reported. The agreement called for him to provide consulting services through the end of the calendar year.

Grateful that the @FreeBeacon has exposed this. No one should be shocked by this!

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed landed a $9,000-a-month consulting contract with Wayne County just six days after launching his campaign, allowing him to bill taxpayers roughly $300 an hour while running for office, the Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman reports. Public records obtained by the Free Beacon show that Wayne County approved the deal on April 23, less than three weeks after El-Sayed resigned as director of its health services department. The eight-month contract authorized up to $72,000 for 30 hours of work per month providing “strategic support” during the leadership transition. The payments were routed through AME Higher LLC, an entity El-Sayed created as a pass-through for consulting and speaking fees. “The news comes as El-Sayed has faced questions over his use of a tax loophole to avoid payroll and income taxes on payments he received through AME Higher LLC,” Goodman writes. His latest financial disclosure shows that he paid himself a $64,000 salary from the company and took another $103,000 as a “member draw,” a common strategy for avoiding payroll taxes, accountants told the Free Beacon. The Wayne County deal was not El-Sayed’s only consulting work during the campaign. He has also collected more than $82,000 from One Health Partners, a Chicago-area nonprofit health care company that former employees have called a “scam.” The Free Beacon reported that the company focuses on buying medical practices and “exploiting Medicare” to increase revenue. It is run by Ali Karim, one of El-Sayed’s largest campaign donors, who was sanctioned by Wisconsin regulators for defrauding an investor and has been accused of fraudulent business practices in multiple lawsuits. El-Sayed has bragged about his two-year tenure running Wayne County’s health department on the campaign trail, claiming he “led the rebuild from the studs” of its troubled juvenile detention facility. Investigators, however, found the facility “flooded with sewage and garbage” and littered with “dried feces and bodily fluids.” The facility later lost its full operational license and was placed on probation by state regulators. — Michelle Maxwell ™ (@MichelleMaxwell) October 2, 2026

El-Sayed was assigned 30 hours of work each month in exchange for the $9,000 monthly payment. Those terms put his compensation at approximately $300 per hour.

Under the contract, El-Sayed was approved to collect as much as $72,000 over eight months of consulting work. The fixed monthly payments were tied to the 30 hours of work specified in the agreement.

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The payments did not go directly to El-Sayed. Instead, Wayne County routed the money through AME Higher LLC, according to the contract cited by the newspaper.

El-Sayed created AME Higher LLC as a pass-through entity for his consulting and speaking fees, according to the agreement. The contract identified that company as the vehicle receiving the payments.

The Senate candidate had previously worked for the county health services department for two years. He later returned under the consulting arrangement that began in April 2025.

The contract said El-Sayed would “provide strategic support to the County in efforts to ensure smooth and effective leadership transition and aligning operational priorities with the County's broader vision for public health and human services.”

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Wayne County is led by County Executive Warren Evans, a Democrat. The contract placed El-Sayed in a taxpayer-funded consulting position as he pursued elected office.

The consulting fees added another element to a Senate campaign already moving toward a general election contest. El-Sayed barely defeated Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in August.

El-Sayed now faces Republican Mike Rogers in November. The race follows El-Sayed’s campaign on a Democratic Socialist platform.

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El-Sayed has claimed that he will take money out of politics, put money in voters’ pockets and provide Medicare for All. Michigan Republican Party Senior Communications Advisor Greg Manz argued that those promises are incompatible.

Manz issued a statement attacking both El-Sayed’s campaign message and his financial relationships. He accused the Democratic candidate of telling voters one thing while doing the opposite.

“Conman Abdul El-Sayed is running the oldest con in politics, telling voters one thing while doing the opposite. He claims he wants 'money out of politics,' yet he's been cashing checks from the Soros family, begging Chuck Schumer for corporate campaign cash, and stockpiling donations from terrorist organizations.”

Manz also challenged El-Sayed’s claims about putting money into the pockets of Michigan voters. He argued that El-Sayed’s proposed policies would instead increase taxes and expand government authority over health care.

“Conman Abdul promises 'money in your pocket,' but admitted he wants to raise taxes on hardworking Michigan families. Conman Abdul touts a socialist 'Medicare for All' scheme without mentioning it means ripping away Michiganders' healthcare choices and handing control to Big Government bureaucrats.”

The criticism lands as El-Sayed continues campaigning following his narrow August victory over Stevens. His November contest against Rogers will determine whether his Democratic Socialist platform wins over Michigan voters.

El-Sayed is also scheduled to appear this weekend with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, in Macomb County. The appearance comes as scrutiny continues over the consulting agreement, its $300 hourly rate and its total potential value of $72,000.

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