El-Sayed and Rogers argue over Iran and Trump, throwing insults, during Michigan Senate debate

During Thursday’s debate in the Michigan Senate, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed called his opponent “weak,” a “coward” and a “puppet for the Trump administration.” Republican Mike Rogers called his opponent a “flawed AI chatbot” who is running a “scam” and will “say anything to win.”

The two candidates in one of the nation’s most closely watched midterm contests spent an hour of debate arguing with each other. the war in Iranthe trade war with Canada, immigration, health policy and cost of living issues. They also hurled insults on stage in almost every exchange, accusing each other of flip-flopping and financial entanglements.

After the single commercial break, debate moderator Rick Albin of WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids said the two men argued even when they were off the air. Repeatedly, Albin begged candidates to “work with me” and said, “I appreciate your passion, but please, let’s try to keep this in order.”

El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination after a bitter primary in which the former health official clashed with the party’s moderate wing over his support for single-payer health care and opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel. A former congressman, Rogers won the GOP nomination with little competition after endorsing President Trump, whose struggling approval ratings posed a vulnerability for his party’s midterm candidates.

Most polls show a very close race between the two candidates, who are competing to replace incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The race could be crucial in determining which party wins control of the Senate.

During the debate, both candidates called for suspending the gas tax as the Middle East conflict keeps energy prices high, and questioned the tariff war with Canada.

Regarding the war in Iran, Rogers said “this would be the time to wrap it up.” He also argued that “we must put an end” to trade dispute with Canada in striking a deal with the United States’ northern neighbor, saying he spoke with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “about getting the deal done.”

But El-Sayed pushed Rogers to criticize the Trump administration’s trade and Iran policies, accusing him of running at the president’s behest and unwilling to stand up to Mr. Trump.

“He has a direct line to the president who makes sure the war doesn’t end, and he doesn’t use it,” El-Sayed said of the Iranian conflict, which he called a “stupid war.”

When asked if the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration had gone too far, Rogers responded that intense operations in Minnesota earlier this year were “probably not appropriate.”

“They made that correction. They made an adjustment,” Rogers said, before asserting that agents were “targeting murderers and rapists who were here illegally doing bad things.”

El-Sayed — who has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — was asked whether an undocumented immigrant who committed a violent crime should be deported. He responded, “Yes, but you don’t have to do it by violating the entire Constitution.”

Meanwhile, Rogers attacked El-Sayed for his support of Medicare For All, calling him a views on health care “dangerous” and claiming that it would involve “taking your private health insurance and giving it to the government.” When El-Sayed said that “if families want to keep their private health insurance, that’s fine with me,” Rogers responded, “That’s absolutely news to me.”

Foreign policy animated much of the debate. El-Sayed has frequently criticized the war in Iran and has portrayed Rogers as a hawk who “thinks there is a war for everything.” El-Sayed said he supported a diplomatic solution on Iran, pointing to the Obama-era deal that limited Iran’s uranium enrichment, a deal that Mr. Trump ended during his first term.

Rogers said he believed the war could end now because Iran’s nuclear program and conventional military had been seriously degraded.

El-Sayed vehemently criticizes the Israeli government over its conduct during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and opposes U.S. military assistance to Israel. Asked by the moderator whether he views Iran or Israel as a greater threat, El-Sayed called it a “ridiculous assumption,” arguing that Israel incited the United States to go to war with Iran and saying that “both have proven dangerous in their own ways.”

Rogers has described himself as a strong supporter of Israel. Asked if there was anything Israel could do to lose his support, he replied: “If they talked about using nuclear weapons, they would definitely lose my support. But I’ve never heard them say that.”

Rogers pressed El-Sayed not to issue a statement marking the third anniversary of Hamas’ deadly terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, alleging that his opponent “couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge the pain, the terrorism, the rape, the murders.” El-Sayed said he condemned the attack, but “did not turn it into political theater like you just did.” He later told reporters after the debate that he believed everything he said about the terrorist attack would be scrutinized and politicized.

Both candidates pressed each other for campaign donations and questioned each other’s finances, with El-Sayed lashing out at Rogers over a waterfront home he owns in Florida and Rogers bringing up El-Sayed’s wife’s house. rental property in the United Arab Emirates.

“At least Florida is in the United States,” Rogers said at one point, prompting El-Sayed to respond, “It’s not in Michigan, dude.”