Former Rep. Mike Rogers and his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, tore into each other at their second Michigan Senate debate Wednesday evening.
Rogers, a former FBI special agent and the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, clashed with El-Sayed over the personal barbs, accusations and fierce divides that have defined one of the countryâs most anticipated Senate elections.
Here are some of the most noteworthy moments from the fiery faceoff.
El-Sayed accuses Rogers of backing Trumpâs war with Iran
As evidence of Rogersâ alignment with President Donald Trump, El-Sayed accused him of backing the war in Iran, a conflict El-Sayed himself described as "aimless."
"He's got a war for everything, and he won't back off the war now. He supports this war," El-Sayed said.
"If you don't believe me, I want you to pay attention. On Sunday, when Donald Trump comes here at the invitation of Mike Rogers to remind you that, in fact, Donald Trump is on the ballot through Mike Rogers. They are hip to hip on this war, and you are paying the cost," he added, referring to one of Rogers' upcoming campaign events.
Rogers quickly fired back, reiterating a moment from their first debate when El-Sayed refused to answer whether Israel or Iran posed a greater threat to the U.S.
"My opponent can't even condemn the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], which is the terrorist enforcement arm of Iran, and doesn't believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel. This is an absolute nonstarter," Rogers said.
Rogers sparks explosive moment with resurfaced Muslim Brotherhood accusations
At one point during the debate, Rogers accused El-Sayed of deleting social media content about defunding the police â a progressive stance that circulated among far-left Democrats in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
"I will tell you this: he did call for defunding the police ⦠[and] he deleted all of this material. Why would you do that? Why would you go through and take all of that time to delete all of the material? X videos, comments, podcast. Why? Because he was passionate about defunding the police," Rogers said.
"As a matter of fact, he asked the Muslim Brotherhood head, Morsi, in Egypt to defund the police there, too," Rogers added, referring to the former Egyptian president associated with the group.
The last remark triggered a fierce reaction from El-Sayed, who has fended off questions about ties to the Muslim Brotherhood throughout his campaign.
"He keeps raising this question about this association with the organization," El-Sayed said. "It's really quite beneath you."
Although Fox News Digital has not discovered any links between El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, critics have pointed to El-Sayed's ties to the Muslim Students Association (MSA), a group listed as part of a strategy memorandum for North America written by one of the Muslim Brotherhoodâs members, Mohamed Akram.
El-Sayed served as the vice president of the MSA chapter at the University of Michigan during his time there as a senior in 2007, according to College Fix.
Rogers blasts hidden costs of expanding government promises
Throughout the night, El-Sayed doubled down on promises to expand government programs like Medicaid and measures to "put money in your pocket," a refrain that has been a cornerstone of his campaign.
But Rogers made sure to cast doubt on those commitments, arguing that the policies would carry with them a heftier price tag than the Democratic nominee would acknowledge.
"So think of all of the three things he just talked about. Put money in your pockets. It's a great slogan. There's nothing behind it. Matter of fact, when his Democratic socialist-aligned policies are engaged, you'll be lucky to have a d--- pair of pants when you're done," Rogers said.
"Medicare for all. He doesn't tell you how much taxes you have to get charged, and you lose your private health insurance. These aren't real solutions. These are solutions that are going to make your life more miserable. And it's going to take away your choices in healthcare."
Rogers claims El-Sayed said âquiet part out loudâ on AI regulation
When asked about AI regulation, Abdul El-Sayed briefly mentioned he would support having "democratically appointed folks on the board of these AI corporations," citing what he described as an existential threat to the workforce.
Rogers seized on the moment, accusing El-Sayed of verbalizing a desire to exercise public control of private companies.
"He said the quiet part out loud," Rogers said.
"He wants government to go into these businesses. That is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). [They] come in for your business and your future. And so, you need to really stop for a minute and think about, do you want somebody who wants the government involved in these companies?" Rogers added.
Notably, Abdul El-Sayed has not officially received an endorsement from the DSA, nor has he affirmed the groupâs platform. Even so, he has endorsed and received endorsements from a number of candidates who have received the DSAâs backing. Among them, El-Sayed supported New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, in his bid for office last year.
El-Sayed gets heat in rapid-fire round over Second Amendment
At the close of the debate, Rogers fired back at El-Sayed when the Democratic candidate needled him for refusing to answer yes or no to a question about implementing universal background checks for gun purchases.
"It all depends. It all depends," Rogers said.
"Itâs not hard. Look at that. So dependable," El-Sayed quipped.
Rogers fired back, noting that El-Sayed had once called for doing away with the Second Amendment in comments he had made before he launched his Senate bid.
"You want to ban the Second Amendment. Why donât you talk about that?"
Rogers was alluding to a video published on YouTube in 2023 in which El-Sayed had compared the right to bear arms to a right to healthcare.
"What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have healthcare?" El-Sayed said.
He claimed altruism in the proposal, saying more people would live and arguing against individuals owning firearms, instead suggesting that only designated community-based groups like police forces should be issued firearms.
With their second debate now in the rearview mirror, El-Sayed and Rogers have closed out their scheduled debates and are unlikely to meet again until after the election. Having cleared their respective primaries and secured their parties' nominations, the pair will face off in Michiganâs general election on Nov. 3.
After the debate, MIGOP Chairman Jim Runestad said in a statement to Fox News Digital: "Mike Rogers demonstrated yet again why he is the commonsense, steady hand Michiganders want to see in the U.S. Senate. We cannot afford Abdul El-Sayed's far-left, big-government policies, and we cannot risk electing a person who campaigns with the likes of Hasan Piker and seemingly justified the horrific terrorist attack targeting children and the Jewish community in Bloomfield Hills."
Veteran political consultant Lenore Goldman part of new push to swing undecided Jewish voters amid tight race with Republican rival; outreach activists focusing on rights concerns
Republican Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers pressed his challenger, Muslim leftist Abdulrahman El-Sayed, about his alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and whether he is "for America" or "these terrorist groups overseas."
Muslim leftist Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdulrahman El-Sayed on Wednesday rejected requiring proof of citizenship and voter ID for elections, calling GOP-led efforts to secure U.S. elections "about voter suppression."
President Donald Trump was the unofficial third person on stage at Wednesday's Michigan U.S. Senate debate, as Democrat Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly invoked him while seeking to cast Republican Mike Rogers as Trump's "sock puppet."
El-Sayed mentioned Trump 18 times during the hour-long debate and repeatedly called Rogers' responses "MAGA bingo," accusing the Republican of relying on Trump-aligned talking points. Rogers, however, broke with Trump on a couple of trade issues.
The phrase became a running theme throughout the night, with El-Sayed declaring "MAGA bingo" after Rogers accused him of supporting socialist policies, open borders and defunding the police. Rogers eventually turned the attack back on his opponent, suggesting that the real bingo game was every time El-Sayed included Trump in his answer.
Rogers, however, did not align with Trump on every issue. He split with Trump on trade, calling the president's tariffs a "mixed bag" and saying tariffs on Canada may have been "not well thought through."
He also opposed Chinese automakers building vehicles in the United States, saying during the debate that Congress should ban the ability for the Chinese to build cars in the United States. El-Sayed countered by pointing out that Trump has said he would be open to Chinese automakers building vehicles in the United States and questioned whether Rogers would stand up to Trump on the issue.
Wednesday evening marked the second debate between El-Sayed and Rogers, just weeks before Michigan's midterm election.
The battle for the swing state's open Senate seat has drawn national attention not only because it could help determine control of the upper chamber, but because it has emerged as a major test of the Democratic Party's progressive wing in a key battleground state.
El-Sayed, backed by progressive heavyweights including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has campaigned on a progressive agenda that includes Medicare for All, higher taxes on the wealthy, ending U.S. military aid to Israel and abolishing ICE.
While El-Sayed worked to paint Rogers as a Trump-aligned "corporate politician," Rogers repeatedly branded his Democratic opponent as having a "pattern of deception," accusing him of misrepresenting his record and shifting his positions.
Throughout the debate, Rogers cast El-Sayed as being outside the political mainstream, tying the Democrat and his policies to the Democratic Socialists of America and hammering him over his past support for defunding the police.
Rogers also claimed that some of El-Sayed's donors and supporters were tied to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood.
At one point, Rogers questioned El-Sayed's allegiance to the country after accusing El-Sayed of having donors tied to Hamas, asking, "Are you for America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?"
The most contentious moment of the debate came during a question on public safety, when Rogers hammered El-Sayed over his past support for defunding the police, accused him of deleting social media posts on the issue and pointed to El-Sayed's past comments involving former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed fired back that it was "beneath" Rogers to question his commitment to the Constitution, declaring that he was "proud to be an American" and calling Rogersâ line of questioning "shameful."
El-Sayed, a Muslim and first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Egypt, has faced scrutiny over his rhetoric on the war in Gaza and his positions on Israel, leading some members of Michigan's Jewish community to openly disavow the Democratic candidate. During the debate, Rogers said that his campaign was doing well with the Jewish community, which he claimed is fearful of El-Sayed's rhetoric.
Rogers said that El-Sayed was too "extreme" for Michigan, pointing to prominent Democrats who said they can't back the party's nominee, including the former Michigan Democratic Party chairman and the former finance chair for Sen. Elissa Slotkin's campaign.
Michigan Republicans echoed that argument following the debate, pointing out that El-Sayed used to campaign with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said that America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"We cannot afford Abdul El-Sayed's far-left, big-government policies, and we cannot risk electing a person who campaigns with the likes of Hasan Piker and seemingly justified the horrific terrorist attack targeting children and the Jewish community in Bloomfield Hills," MIGOP Chairman Jim Runestad said in a statement.
Abdul El-Sayed accused Mike Rogers of being overly devoted to President Trump. Mr. Rogers accused Dr. El-Sayed of not enough loyalty to the country. It was still more cordial than their last debate.
During Wednesday nightâs Michigan U.S. Senate debate, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed passionately denied ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and admonished Republican Mike Rogers for attempting to link him to the organization.
"[El-Sayed] was passionate about defunding the police," Rogers said, responding to a question about law enforcement funding. "As a matter of fact, he asked the Muslim Brotherhood, excuse me, head Morsi in Egypt, to defund the police there, too. I mean, it's unbelievable."
Rogers was referencing a letter that The Washington Free Beacon reported El-Sayed signed in 2012 calling on the Egyptian president, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, to purge his nationâs police force.
"To bring into question my commitment to the Constitution is really beneath you," El-Sayed responded.
"I am proud of America. I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray. And the question â that you would ask that â I think is actually really quite shameful. As somebody who's actually served under that Constitution, it is shameful."
El-Sayed also caught flak after social media posts from his half-sister alleging that their mother was involved in Muslim Brotherhood activism in the 1970s resurfaced. El-Sayed has denied personal or family ties to the organization and maintained that he was not raised by his biological mother.
"He keeps raising this question about this association with the organization," El-Sayed said at the debate. "I've never been a part because my mom, who's a nurse in Missouri, it doesn't make any sense. And it's actually really quite beneath you, Mike. It's really quite beneath you."
"I know you want to make this about you being a victim," Rogers said. "This is about an ideology. An ideology that's banned in five Muslim countries, an ideology that's banned in another six different countries, an ideology that is very concerning to law enforcement in the United States because they use it for funding overseas operations."
"Mike Rogers demonstrated yet again why he is the commonsense, steady hand Michiganders want to see in the U.S. Senate," Michgian GOP Chairman Jim Runestad said following the debate. "We cannot afford Abdul El-Sayed's far-left, big-government policies, and we cannot risk electing a person who campaigns with the likes of Hasan Piker and seemingly justified the horrific terrorist attack targeting children and the Jewish community in Bloomfield Hills."
The chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, meanwhile, stated that "the choice this November is clear: Abdul El-Sayed is the candidate who will always put Michigan first, while Mike Rogers will only ever fight for Donald Trump, his wealthy donors and himself."
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed (D) is standing by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) after the lawmaker sparked the GOP’s ire with a recent comment that she wants young professionals to rethink accepting a job with the Trump administration. In a Wednesday radio interview with “The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent,” El-Sayed accused Republicans of…
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed (D) is standing by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) after the lawmaker sparked the GOP’s ire with a recent comment that she wants young professionals to rethink accepting a job with the Trump administration. In a Wednesday radio interview with “The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent,” El-Sayed accused Republicans of…
In the final weeks of Michigan’s Senate race, the Democratic nominee finds himself facing both ugly attacks and pointed questions about family members. He has pushed back forcefully.
At a town hall in Midland, Michigan, on Saturday, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) said the 2nd Amendment boils down to protecting "equal rights to a musket."
Against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia, Michigan Senate hopeful has challenged premise of repeated questions on Muslim Brotherhood, Israel and faith
As a candidate positioned at the center of what researchers say are the worst Islamophobic attacks seen since the aftermath of 9/11, many would expect Abdul El-Sayed to simply defend himself and move on.
Instead, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan has repeatedly demanded those who question his positions on Israel, the Muslim Brotherhood, and his faith, explain the premise of their enquiry. Rather than let others put his loyalties on trial, he has tried to put their assumptions on trial.
The Michigan senate race between Republican candidate Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has turned into the marquee matchup of the 2026 midterm, both as a test of the far left’s ability to compete in middle America and as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s leadership. So what will tip the balance?
While many of the basic factors of this contest have already been built in, such as El-Sayed’s disdain for Israel, and Rogers, somewhat qualified, support for the president’s policies, there are a few points emerging that could prove decisive in the final two weeks.
Here are five factors that still could sway who some late deciders vote for, or whether they turn out to vote at all.
1. Temperament
Policy differences aside, Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed are very different people with very different temperaments, and voters Fox News Digital spoke with in Michigan could see, in the same temperamental attributes, either a positive or negative light.
For example, Leon in Detroit, a city employee in his 40s who supported El -Sayed’s opponent Haley Stevens in the primary, said of Abdul, "He just comes off arrogant, like he’s talking down to everybody," but young voters I spoke with in Grand Rapids called this attitude, "confidence," and "assertiveness."
On the ground, one could almost describe the race as a Thanksgiving dinner in which Rogers is your calm, conservative, wealthy uncle and El-Sayed is the new college boyfriend who keeps talking about how terrible American capitalism is and why the football game on tv is toxic, Michigan voters must choose who they hope will be there next year..
Back in August, when El-Sayed won a one point victory over Stevens, despite polls showing him up by double digits, it was the aggressive far left ground game, especially in semi urban areas like Dearborn, from groups like the Democratic Socialists of America that saved his bacon.
As Tiffany Justice, Senior Advisor for Citizen’s Alliance told Fox News Digital, " Michigan elections are won at the margins, and the voters who decide them are working-class conservatives who agree with us but don't have a habit of voting. A TV ad won't get them there. A neighbor knocking on their door, looking them in the eye, and personally inviting them to the polls will."
Rogers claims that the GOP ground game has been improving in the Wolverine State, and he better hope so, in fact the money men on the right might need to shift a bit from ads on screens to faces at screen doors.
You didn’t really think we could leave the president out of this, did you? El-Sayed has dared Trump to campaign with Rogers in Michigan, and Trump has decided to oblige him with a rally set for Sunday, October 25th, just a day after former President Barack Obama will rally with Abdul.
Rogers, for his part, has distanced himself from Trump both on the conflict in Iran and on the Canadian tariff war, and notably has done so with no blowback from the commander in chief, a Trump rally will bring out much needed MAGA voters, but could it also alienate independent voters just days before the election.
4. French Riots
El-Sayed’s family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as his past statements in support of it, have become central to this race, even after Abdul’s hand-waving "sort of" disavowal of the group in a testy town hall exchange, and the backdrop to this issue is the pro Islamist riots in France.
Americans, including voters in Michigan, are increasingly looking towards Europe, with its burning buildings in Limoges and trampling of free speech in London, as a warning of what happens when a nation has untrammeled immigration without assimilation.
If these riots persist and get worse, both Rogers and El-Sayed will have to address them and the undertones will be clear as day to Michigan voters.
5. The Final Debate
On Wednesday, Rogers and El-Sayed will take the stage for their second and final debate, the first having been contentious, but arguably without a knockout blow for either man. The electorate is much more keyed in than it was on October 8th, when they first sparred, making this the biggest chance either side has to attract new votes.
How aggressive will El-Sayed be, and can he do it without voters like Leon thinking he is condescending? Can Mike Rogers keep his cool, and should he? In a race this close, one viral moment could make all the difference.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is taking heat from the left yet again, this time over a report urging her staff to probe Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's potential ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Semafor reported Sunday that Weiss "personally advocated for CBS News journalists to pursue numerous story angles related to El-Sayed’s supposed sympathy towards the Muslim Brotherhood."
The report cited two anonymous CBS News staffers who were aggrieved by Weiss' directive. Anonymous CBS News staffers complaining about their boss to liberal media outlets has become commonplace in the media industry.
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham believes disgruntled CBS News employees constantly offering anonymous quotes to liberal publications in an effort to smear Weiss "helps reinforce" the longstanding bias toward the left.
"She’s making them do difficult things," Graham told Fox News Digital.
"Can we look into whether Abdul El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, like his family says they do? How dare you," Graham quipped. "You’re not supposed to do stories that might make Democrats look bad."
While Weiss’ defenders have suggested staffers are essentially irked that she asked them to do journalism, progressives lashed out against Weiss over the latest report.
"A rightwing, pro-Israel, anti-Muslim troll who has zero qualifications to be running national TV network is in fact running a national TV network and trying to get it to behave like a rightwing, pro-Israel, anti-Muslim troll," far-left Zeteo founder and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan reacted on X.
"No self-respecting journalist should work for Bari Weiss," The Nation correspondent Jeet Heer wrote.
"Nobody should respect or trust ANYTHING coming out of @CBSNews at this point," far-left activist Shaun King exclaimed.
Notably, CBS News largely refrained from covering the controversy that blew up last week when unearthed social media posts from his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, claimed their family, including their mother, had ties to the controversial Islamist group after he flatly denied there was any connection to NBC's Kristen Welker.
"Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect," Abdelhadi wrote in a 2012 X post, as first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, had attended Egypt's Alexandria University, which, according to a report from the Brookings Institution, had strong Muslim Brotherhood activity back in the 1970s.
In another 2012 post, Abdelhadi, a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote, "My family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively."
In a third post from 2013, she wrote, "Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe."
Graham feels that CBS News staffers who didn’t want to look into the El-Sayed story must find it "wildly offensive" to even consider a conservative point of view.
"They object [to] the idea that they have to be somehow a little bit fair and balanced," Graham said.
As for El-Sayed, he recently doubled down on his denial during a contentious exchange with NBC's Tom Llamas.
"It's funny to me," El-Sayed responded. "I was born in 1984 down the street in Rochester Hills. I was raised here in Michigan, went to the University of Michigan, rebuilt the health department in this city, led the health department in this county — and you want to ask me about what's happening in Egypt in 1970? Are you serious?"
"I get it, but you were asked a question, and you gave an answer," Llamas responded.
"I have no ties, we have no ties," El-Sayed said, reiterating his denial.
The Democratic hopeful told Llamas he hadn't had conversations with his mother about her alleged Muslim Brotherhood activity and accused the anchor of using "hearsay evidence from a tweet."
"That's just not serious," El-Sayed said.
"But you've also gone after the president for truthfulness and when people ask you a question, do you expect the truth?" Llamas then asked.
"Are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?" El-Sayed fired back.
"I don't know, that's why I'm asking," Llamas responded.
"And I'm telling you that I was not," El-Sayed told him.
In an interview on MS NOW, El-Sayed likened the questions about his family allegiances to ones John F. Kennedy faced as a Catholic while running for president in 1960.
The man who attempted to ambush the Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed with a question about his supposed allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood – which El-Sayed parlayed into a viral clip for his campaign – is the son of a political operator who recently received $250,000 for “canvassing and influencer marketing” against El-Sayed, the Guardian has learned.
In the now-famous exchange, a man – first identified by the Handbasket as Thomas “Tommy” Teepell – asked El-Sayed if he would “disavow” the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed said he would, but then asked: “What are you implying? Do you assume that I wouldn’t?” What followed was a five-minute exchange that has drawn over 50m views across several social media platforms, in which El-Sayed queries the man about the guarantees of religious freedom in the constitution.
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