Abdul El-Sayed speaks to supporters at a rally Oct. 24 in Detroit.
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DETROIT — Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won the U.S. Senate election in Michigan, according to an Associated Press election announcement, a crucial victory in his party’s quest to regain the Senate majority.
Michigan’s election, one of the most closely watched in the United States, tested the performance of an anti-establishment left-wing candidate in a perennial battleground in the Midwest.
El-Sayed will be the first Muslim American to serve in the Senate.
The 42-year-old former public health official defeated former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers. Rogers lost his first Senate bid in 2024.
Tapping into anger over the cost of living and corruption, El-Sayed has galvanized young, infrequent voters by focusing on adopting single-payer health care and limiting the influence of corporate money in politics.
He is not a democratic socialist, unlike several candidates whose insurgent campaigns gained traction in this cycle’s primaries, even though his campaign was supported by some of the political left’s biggest stars.
His positions on Israel have alienated some Jewish voters, including his comments after a car-ramming attack on a synagogue preschool in metro Detroit — for which he later apologized — and his campaigning during the primary with controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.
These are some of the dynamics of a heated primary that has become a substitute for many of the broader debates that have fueled the direction of the Democratic Party after two years in the political wilderness.
In the primary, El-Sayed narrowly beat Rep. Haley Stevens by about 1 percentage point, despite support from Michigan heavyweights like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and retired Sen. Gary Peters.
Mike Rogers speaks to supporters during a campaign event at Hoffman Farms Winery October 9 in Highland Township, Michigan.
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Puce Somodevilla/Getty Images
In the final days of the general election, Stevens reversed course and announced she was supporting Rogers, after initially saying she would support the Democratic ticket, underscoring the rocky path to unifying the Democratic coalition in Michigan. After the primaries, polls showed a close race with Rogers, although Democrats had held the Senate seat since 1979.
During the campaign, El-Sayed criticized his opponent and other Republicans, including President Trump, for targeting him with Islamophobic rhetoric.
Trump early supported Rogers, who embraced some of the president’s false claims of widespread election fraud, although he has previously condemned them, including after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. As November approached, Rogers attempted to distance himself from some of the president’s policies, including the war in Iran.
El-Sayed, a Michigan native who led health departments in Wayne County and the city of Detroit, first arrived on the political scene in 2018 with an unsuccessful bid for governor.
As Democrats grapple with their party’s identity, El-Sayed indicated he intends to be an important voice, especially given Michigan’s privileged position in the 2028 presidential nominating process.
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