Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed speaks at Senator Bernie Sanders 'Fighting Oligarchy' rally.

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Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive running for the Democratic nomination in the the Aug. 4 Michigan Senate primary, sees a foundational risk in the rise of artificial intelligence. And he's betting that fears related to the emerging technology and the data centers that power it could play a pivotal role in the race. 

"There's literally not a conversation that I have, not a stop that I make, where data centers are AI don't come up," El-Sayed told CNBC. "It's an issue that I'm hearing about everywhere, and it's one of those issues that, as usual, D.C. has been slower to pay attention to than the rest of the country."

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former public health official, is part of a cadre of left-wing Democratic candidates — some of whom have made strides in New York and Colorado in recent weeks — looking to upset establishment candidates. And like many progressives, El-Sayed has staked out a position on AI and data centers more hostile to the technology than his opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, a moderate with the tacit support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The tight race is critical for Democrats if they want to flip the Senate. El-Sayed and Stevens will seek to defend the seat Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, is vacating. The primary winner will square off against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, in the general election. The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates the race a "toss up."

It can also be viewed as a battle in the larger civil war roiling the Democratic Party, as progressives and moderates tussle for control. And the split between El-Sayed and Stevens on AI and data centers could be a test case for Democrats on how to message on the issue going forward.

"There are lots of people in lots of places that are going to draw lessons from the outcome of this race," said Tyler Simko, an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. "People are going to try to infer the viability of this type of progressive argument on data centers and AI."

While Michigan isn't in the top-10 for the number of AI data centers — the state has 77 currently operating, according to one public database, and more in the pipeline — anti-data center sentiment appears to be building in the state. Across the country, fears of AI in general are on the rise, several recent polling has found.

El-Sayed says he has a plan.

In January, he released his "terms of engagement" for data centers. El-Sayed stops short of calling for a moratorium on their development, as some of his backers, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have recently done. But he vows to impose strict guardrails on their development, including job guarantees, commitments to no utilities rate hikes and environmental protections.

And earlier this month, he unveiled a multi-pronged policy to rein-in AI that includes public ownership of the technology, an AI dividend paid to the public, mandatory divestiture of AI developers from major tech companies and a new tax on AI automation.

"The idea that we should allow the biggest corporations in the world, billionaires who are unaccountable to any of us, to develop the technology that might foundationally change the nature of human experience without democratic oversight to me is nuts," El-Sayed said. "AI may be new technology, but democracy is old technology. And I trust that old technology to hold that new technology accountable." 

Meanwhile, Stevens, who has represented Michigan's 11th congressional district since 2019, has been less vocal.

A spokesperson pointed out that she is the top Democrat on the House Research and Technology Subcommittee and served on a bipartisan House AI task force in the last Congress.

Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., speaks during a rally on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol to support research and policies for breast cancer treatment that are at risk by proposed Medicaid cuts, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.

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She also co-led legislation — which was signed into law in 2020 — that promotes research into identifying deepfakes and helped write the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which aimed to invest in AI safety programs and boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

Stevens has a four-pronged approach to tackling AI risks, according to her campaign. It includes expanded work training to protest against job loss, maintaining human control of AI technology and ensuring algorithms aren't used to discriminate in areas like employment, education and housing.

On data centers, Stevens' campaign said she is working to ensure they do create union jobs, but don't result in higher utilities costs.

"Congress must take concrete steps to ensure that not a single Michigan job is lost and that not a single Michigander sees their costs rise as a result of artificial intelligence – I want to bring costs down and create Michigan jobs," Stevens said in an emailed statement. "As our world and Michigan's economy adapt to new technologies, I will always fight to protect our workers, create good-paying union jobs, and stand up for Michigan families." 

Her campaign did not make her available for an interview for this story.

As large as AI and data centers loom in the minds of some voters, the Michigan Senate race won't hinge solely on those issues.

El-Sayed and Stevens have sparred over healthcare — he has advocated for universal Medicare and co-wrote a 2021 book on the subject whereas Stevens has advocated for an expansion of the Affordable Care Act and the creation of a government-run health insurance program.

Throughout the race, El-Sayed has needled Stevens for taking corporate money, which he suggested explains her relatively moderate stances on AI.

"It's not clear that in that campaign they're advancing any original thought about how to actually deal with these problems. And they're also taking money from all the corporations that are part of the problem, so it's not surprising that they have nothing constructive to say about it," El-Sayed said.

He's also repeatedly attacked Stevens for her support of Israel, and for taking significant campaign contributions from pro-Israel groups.

Stevens, meanwhile, has cast El-Sayed as an extremist and a publicity hound. El-Sayed has a penchant for creating buzzy social media videos, which have drawn comparisons to those of New York Mayor and fellow leftist Zohran Mamdani. She's characterized herself as the more experienced candidate, and the one with the best odds to beat Rogers in the general election this November.

"I am not trying to sell a book or a podcast," Stevens said during her opening remarks of a Tuesday debate. "I'm the only one on this stage who doesn't have a talent agent trying to pitch me for paid speeches. And unlike my opponent, I'm not running at the first mic or camera I see."

The Tuesday debate was the first time El-Sayed and Stevens squared off since the contest became a two-way race. At the debate, Stevens said data centers should pay their fair share, but she also wants Michigan to be at "the forefront of innovation and manufacturing."

"I visited hundreds ... of manufacturing shop floors. They are using this technology. We want the jobs. We just can't afford to force the workers to pay for it," Stevens said.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who had laid out her own detailed plans on AI safety and data centers earlier this year, suspended her campaign on July 5. She's said she won't endorse in the head-to-head, which is virtually tied according to post-debate polling.

But in an interview with CNBC, days before she suspended her campaign, McMorrow was sharply critical of El-Sayed's AI proposals.

"I saw a headline about his plans, about the candidate who is further left than Bernie on AI, which may be fine for a Democratic primary, but I also just don't believe that it's particularly realistic," McMorrow said. "There seems to be this attempt to just want to go farthest left."

McMorrow and other critics have questioned the feasibility of El-Sayed's proposal, which in addition to 50% public ownership and direct payments to Americans includes expanded unemployment benefits and the establishment of a Food and Drug Administration-style safety testing agency within the federal government to test emerging AI technology.

Others argue such restraints could stifle innovation and handicap the U.S. in the AI race, instead bolstering foreign competitors, like China.

El-Sayed brushed off those claims. The farther left plan would be complete ownership, rather than the 50% he is proposing, he countered. And if enacted properly, he believes his proposal would hold large corporations accountable while keeping the U.S. competitive.

"I think that this is technology that has world-changing potential. We can yoke it to do some really amazing things for humankind, or it can do some really dangerous things for humankind," El-Sayed said. "The worry I have isn't the technology itself, it's the incentive driving the development of the technology. And those incentives right now are for maximal gain."