Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has made history in American politics. By defeating Republican candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan, he has become the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate.
After his historic win, attention has turned to someone else as well: his wife, Sarah Zukaku. A psychiatrist by profession, she is not only the partner of a rising American politician; her family’s roots reach back to Bhatkal, a coastal town in the Indian state of Karnataka.
Alongside Abdul El-Sayed’s political profile, Sarah’s education, her career as a doctor, her family heritage and the story of their marriage are now in the spotlight. Their household of almost two decades brings together Egyptian-American culture on one side and South Indian tradition on the other. They have two daughters.
What sets Sarah’s story apart is that through it all, born and raised in the United States, educated at world-class institutions, established as a doctor and raising two daughters, she has kept her ties to her family’s roots. Standing beside her husband at the moment of his historic achievement, she has come to embody a link between two cultures on two continents.
Born in Michigan, rooted in Bhatkal
Although Sarah was born and raised in Michigan, her family’s roots are in Bhatkal, on the Karnataka coast. The family belongs to the Nawayath community, and its family and cultural ties with this South Indian community, about 140 kilometres from Mangaluru, go back several generations and are still kept up.
Sarah’s grandfather, Zukaku Shamsuddin, was a well-known lawyer and public figure. In the 1950s he served as deputy minister for finance under BD Jatti, then chief minister of the former Mysore state.
He played a notable part in Bhatkal’s development. Local people still remember his contribution to bringing electricity to the town, building roads, urban planning and developing its schools. Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen, the charity that runs educational institutions in Bhatkal, has named its administrative building after him.
Zukaku Shamsuddin died at only 52. He left his wife, Zubaida Begum, six daughters and four sons. Over time, family members spread out across India for education and work, many of them settling in Bengaluru. One of them is Sarah’s father, Dr Zukaku S Tayyeb.
Following her doctor father to the United States
Sarah’s father, Tayyeb, grew up in Bhatkal. In 1976 he enrolled at Bangalore Medical College to study medicine. After his studies he spent some time in the Middle East and then settled in Michigan in the 1980s.
There he built a career as a kidney specialist. While establishing himself in medicine, he also tried to keep the family’s Indian heritage alive in his children.
So although Sarah grew up in the United States, Bhatkal was never a strange place to her. As a child she visited Bengaluru and Bhatkal to keep in touch with relatives, meeting family and learning about her ancestors’ town.
Sarah’s cousin, Zukaku Shamsuddin Zia, said that until a few years ago Sarah and her family visited India regularly, meeting relatives in Bhatkal and people who had known her grandfather. Those visits are less frequent now.
Even so, the family stays in touch across the distance. Sarah is a member of the family WhatsApp group, where family matters are discussed.
Oxford and Columbia, and a career in psychiatry
Sarah Zukaku’s own education is impressive. She studied sociology and Near Eastern studies at the University of Michigan, then earned a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
She later enrolled at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons to study medicine, graduating in 2015. She then trained in psychiatry and began her career as a doctor.
She completed psychiatry residency training at Cornell University and the University of Michigan. She now sees patients as a psychiatrist in private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In other words, Sarah has a professional identity of her own beyond her husband’s political profile. As well as providing mental health care, she has been an important partner on her husband’s political path.
From a university meeting to two decades of marriage
Abdul El-Sayed and Sarah met while studying at the University of Michigan. Both were involved in the university’s Muslim Students’ Association, where they became acquainted, then friends, and later fell in love.
One notable feature of their relationship was respect for religious values. A report published in 2010 described their courtship in detail.
According to that report, the couple met in the presence of family elders while courting, and refrained from physical contact before marriage, a decision they took out of religious belief and personal values.
They married in May 2006, when Sarah was just 19. Over two decades of marriage, mutual trust, religious values and family bonds have become the foundation of their relationship. From their first meeting to their wedding, the story is one of two different family cultures coming together.
Two daughters, and at his side on the campaign trail
Abdul and Sarah have two daughters, and the family lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While Abdul’s political life is public, the family prefers to keep the private lives of Sarah and their daughters out of view. In the 2026 Senate election, however, Sarah was a visible presence at her husband’s side.
Notably, she spoke at a rally in Detroit in the closing stage of the campaign. Backing her husband, Sarah said that just as Abdul is always there for his own family, he would be just as committed to Michigan’s families.
Her presence on the campaign trail showed her not just as a candidate’s wife but as a close partner in her husband’s political outlook and personal life.
Joking about her husband at one rally, she said: “Nobody can tell him what to do, except me!” The remark drew laughter from the crowd and reflected the easy familiarity of a long marriage.
“I may be more Indian than Arab”
Abdul El-Sayed’s family is Egyptian-American: his father, Mohamed El-Sayed, came to the United States from Egypt. His wife’s family roots are in South India, so their home brings together two cultural traditions.
Abdul often jokes about two decades of life with a South Indian family. One such remark has been reported: “I may have become more Indian than Arab.”
On another occasion he joked that, with his wife and two daughters, he was surrounded by “desi women”. “Desi” is a word used for people of South Asian descent.
Remarks like these show how fully he has embraced his wife’s Indian family heritage. In their household, Egyptian culture and South Indian tradition sit side by side.
New history in Washington, and joy in Bhatkal
In the 3 November midterm elections, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate. The seat, vacated by the retirement of Senator Gary Peters, stays in Democratic hands.
The celebrations were not confined to Michigan. Some 8,000 kilometres away, in Bhatkal, Karnataka, his victory was also greeted with joy.
Sarah’s cousin, Zukaku Shamsuddin Zia, said the family was proud of Abdul’s success. To them, he is a man of principle devoted to public service.
Family members do not talk much about politics, he said, but they keep in regular contact with Sarah, and all kinds of things are discussed in the family WhatsApp group.
Abdul El-Sayed’s victory therefore carries special meaning for the Zukaku family of Bhatkal. A descendant of the man who once helped build a South Indian town is today the life partner of a leader about to become part of American political history.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report