Just days after becoming the first Muslim elected to the US Senate from Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has launched a political action committee named “Habibi PAC”.

A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organisation that raises and spends money to support or oppose political candidates. According to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing submitted on Thursday, Habibi PAC has been registered as a leadership PAC sponsored by El-Sayed. Such committees operate separately from a politician’s own election campaign.

“Habibi” is an Arabic term of affection meaning “my dear” or “my beloved”. El-Sayed frequently used the word during his election campaign. He also included it in his victory speech in Detroit, directly addressing Vice President JD Vance: “JD, habibi, it is a beautiful irony that you are constitutionally required to swear me in this January.”

El-Sayed was among several newly elected Democrats who registered leadership PACs following Tuesday’s vote, according to the FEC filing. Others included Arizona congressman-elect Amish Shah, who registered “PAC Street Boy”; Iowa senator-elect Josh Turek, with “WheelPAC”; and North Carolina senator-elect Roy Cooper, who established “One NC PAC”.

According to OpenSecrets, aspiring lawmakers use leadership PACs to increase their influence among colleagues by donating to fellow members of Congress, political parties and other political committees. Such funding can also strengthen their prospects in contests for leadership positions and committee chairmanships.

During the 2024 election cycle, leadership PACs contributed $79.3 million to federal candidates. Most of the money went to Republicans, although the single largest donor was a Democratic leadership PAC.

El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrant parents, defeated Republican candidate Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. During the campaign, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Senator Ted Cruz questioned his loyalty, labelled him a “jihadist” and attempted to link him to the Muslim Brotherhood movement without providing evidence.

Days before the election, El-Sayed told Al Jazeera at a rally in Wyandotte, Michigan, that taxpayers’ money should be spent saving people’s lives at home rather than funding genocide or supporting racist foreign governments.

He also argued that defeating Trump alone would not be enough; the system that produced him would also need to be replaced.

Reducing the influence of money in politics was one of El-Sayed’s central campaign pledges. In his victory speech, he said the result had demonstrated that “the people can win” in the struggle between money and ordinary citizens.

His victory came in what became the most expensive US midterm election on record. An analysis of FEC data by OpenSecrets found that total spending during the election reached $11.9 billion, up from $8.9 billion in 2022.