Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has defeated Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, and he used his victory speech to taunt Rogers, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The Associated Press called the race early Wednesday. El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants and a former public health official who has never held elected office, will become the nation’s first Muslim senator.
The Washington Examiner reported the AP call came shortly after 2:25 a.m. Eastern. At that point, with roughly 85% of the expected vote counted, El-Sayed held 51.9% to 46.1% for Rogers.
The win keeps in Democratic hands the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters. Republicans had hoped to flip it after Rogers lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin by about 19,000 votes in 2024.
A Combative Victory Speech
El-Sayed told Rogers to “enjoy your retirement” and added, “You chose hate and Michigan chose hope,” according to the AP. “May we never have to see the likes of you in this state again,” he said.
He also took aim at Vance, Fox News reported. “There is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,” El-Sayed said. “Wolverine one. Buckeye zero.”
He accused Trump of mocking “someone for their name or how they pray” and told parents to explain “that the bad guys lost.” He also said Americans don’t want money spent “on apartheid or genocidal war.”
Republicans had spent the campaign casting El-Sayed as the face of socialism. He ran on Medicare for All, removing outside money from elections and sharp criticism of Israel, with backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
His path was rocky. In the August primary he beat Rep. Haley Stevens after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent nearly $30 million against him, the AP reported. Two days before the election, Stevens endorsed Rogers.
El-Sayed also drew criticism for campaigning with streamer Hasan Piker and for remarks after an attack on a Michigan synagogue, for which he later apologized. Fox News described his win as a major blow to the GOP.
Rogers, a former FBI agent and House Intelligence Committee chairman, struggled with high fuel prices tied to the Iran war and with tariffs. In September he wrote that “the war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly.”
Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned with El-Sayed in Detroit to boost turnout, while Trump headlined a rally for Rogers and other Republicans in the race’s closing days.
El-Sayed said Republicans “went all in on one of the ugliest campaigns that we’ve seen in our lifetimes.” He added, “My name and my faith are not why you can’t afford your gas.”
El-Sayed’s victory was part of a Democratic sweep that the AP says gave the party control of both chambers of Congress, handing progressives a fresh argument heading into the 2028 presidential race.
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