Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services approved a consulting contract paying Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed $9,000 a month, according to public records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The county approved the contract on April 23, 2025 — six days after El-Sayed announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan. El-Sayed had resigned as director of the department on April 3, 2025, after serving in the role for two years.
Under the terms of the agreement, El-Sayed was to be paid $9,000 a month for 30 hours of work, roughly $300 an hour. The contract ran through the end of the calendar year and authorized payments of up to $72,000 for eight months of work. County executive Warren Evans, a Democrat, oversees the department that approved the deal.
The contract describes El-Sayed’s role as providing “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.”
Payments were routed through AME Higher LLC, an entity El-Sayed set up to handle his consulting and speaking fees, according to the contract records.
Other Consulting Income
The Wayne County contract is not El-Sayed’s only outside income during his Senate campaign. He has also received more than $82,000 in consulting fees from One Health Partners, a Chicago-area health care company. Former employees described the company to the Free Beacon as a “scam” focused on acquiring medical practices and “exploiting Medicare” for revenue.
One Health Partners is run by Ali Karim, one of El-Sayed’s largest campaign donors. Karim was sanctioned by Wisconsin regulators for defrauding an investor and has faced fraud accusations in multiple lawsuits, according to the Free Beacon’s reporting.
The Race
El-Sayed, a Democrat, currently leads Republican opponent Mike Rogers by 3.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average in the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
