DETROIT — Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s open US Senate seat on Tuesday, according to media projections, becoming the first Muslim elected to the chamber while preserving a crucial Democratic seat in the party’s fight for Senate control.
El-Sayed’s victory in the closely contested election marked a breakthrough for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and denied Republicans a chance to flip the seat of retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, on Wednesday took a swipe at US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance after defeating Republican Mike Rogers, using his victory speech to highlight the irony of Vance having to formally swear him into office.
Both Trump and Vance launched Islamophobic and racially charged rhetoric at him throughout the campaign.
Addressing Vance, El-Sayed said, “Habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in, in January.”
He also directed a pointed message at Trump, who had repeatedly criticised him during the campaign and questioned his loyalty to the United States.
“Donald, I know you struggled with my name. So after JD swears me in in January, you can just go on to call me ‘Senator’,” he said.
His opponent Mike Rogers, 63, a former congressman and FBI agent, entered the race with strong backing from Trump and national Republicans and had sought to cast El-Sayed as a radical candidate sympathetic to Islamic extremism through alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, claims that El-Sayed denies and that remain unsupported by evidence.
Rogers also devoted significant effort to courting Jewish voters who may have been uneasy with El-Sayed’s opposition to US military aid for Israel and his characterization of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.SG
