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…
Tuesday, during an appearance on FNC's "Hannity," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) commented on Michigan Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and his alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Tuesday, during NewsNation’s special “John Stossel Confronts Socialism,” NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas said that Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has gone “a step further” than what socialism has mostly come to mean by advocating for government takeover
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.
Abdul El-Sayed’s past support for Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Egypt is raising eyebrows in Congress after a former staffer for the left-wing Michigan Senate candidate says he's angling for a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if elected in November.
Two Republican panel members said there is no place on the committee for "radical views" held by El-Sayed, who has associated with controversial streamer Hasan Piker but has attempted during his bid for office to distance himself from the socialist arm of the Democratic Party.
"A man with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, who cheered their takeover of Egypt 15 years ago, and who campaigns with people saying America deserved 9/11, should not come anywhere near the U.S. Senate — and especially not the Foreign Relations Committee," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who serves on the power panel, told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., another member of the committee, responded to the controversy on X over the weekend.
"El-Sayed says he’s running on affordability, so why does he want a seat on @SenateForeign?" McCormick wrote. "I sit on that committee, and someone with El-Sayed's radical views has no business on it."
McCormick’s post came in response to a report by The Midwesterner that featured comments from Jordan Domingue, who worked as El-Sayed’s security chief during his 2018 campaign for Michigan governor.
"It is extremely difficult to comprehend how dangerous this can be if he is elected," Domingue wrote on X. "It’s especially troubling knowing that despite no foreign policy experience, he REALLY wants a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
In 2011, while working as an assistant professor at Columbia University, El-Sayed wrote an op-ed for The Huffington Post urging the Obama administration to support protesters associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed argued that supporting the protesters was in the U.S. interest and wrote that even if the Muslim Brotherhood overthrew Egypt’s government, the resulting state would not necessarily resemble Iran.
"It is in America’s interest to support Egyptian protesters’ efforts to achieve the ability to speak their mind and have a say in how they are governed," El-Sayed wrote . "If the U.S. truly wants to be the beacon of justice and liberty that it claims it does, it would behoove the Obama administration to fall decisively behind the protesters in Egypt."
In a recent town hall, however, El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrant parents, said he does disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. His campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request about his 2011 op-ed about protesters.
The Muslim Brotherhood-backed government took power in Egypt in 2012 but was ousted by the military in 2013.
El-Sayed has throughout his campaign emphasized healthcare, lowering gas and grocery prices and addressing the cost-of-living crisis, as noted by McCormick in his post about the candidate's reported interest in the Foreign Relations Committee.
"It shouldn’t be this hard to get by in the richest, most powerful country in the world," El-Sayed said during his primary campaign against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
McCormick wonders why, given that context, El-Sayed would be gunning for a spot on a committee that deals solely with issues related to U.S. foreign relations.
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."
Mike Rogers brands Abdul El-Sayed ‘anti-Jew' after interview; progressive Jewish groups mobilize to defend Democrat and argue a Republican victory carries its own risks
Former Obama staffers who host the "Pod Save America" podcast debated Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s handling of a recent question about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
While Tommy Vietor and his co-hosts sympathized with El-Sayed over questions they considered "bigoted," Jon Favreau warned that El-Sayed must keep in mind that he is speaking not just to the questioner, but also to voters who may be concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood itself.
Concerns about alleged ties between El-Sayed's family and the Muslim Brotherhood emerged after the Washington Free Beacon reported on social media posts in which El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, described her family's history with the organization, including her and El-Sayed's mother.
At an October 17 town hall, El-Sayed bristled when an audience member asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. After disavowing the organization, El-Sayed turned the scrutiny back on the audience member, saying, "You’re asking the question because, implicitly, you assume that I’ll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that I wouldn’t disavow, or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution, correct? Tommy, is that what you imply?"
Favreau criticized Republican attempts to tie El-Sayed to the organization through his family connections, but argued that the GOP was using the issue to sway voters.
"It's somewhat smarter for them to throw out the Muslim Brotherhood thing because it's like, ‘This is a new piece of information that people might have no idea what the Muslim Brotherhood is,’" he said, appearing to frame the tactical mindset of Republican operatives. "'Sounds pretty scary, doesn't it? Terrorist organization. Maybe you don't know the history of the Muslim Brotherhood. Maybe it's got foreign ties to Egypt and he, you know, his family, his family's from Egypt.'"
"So, to respond to that, as bulls--- as it is, and of course, he like knocked it down. But you've got to forget about the a--hole asking you the question," Favreau continued. "You've got to give the answer as if someone who might have a question about a Muslim Brotherhood tie is not necessarily like totally Islamophobic and like that kid or like Trump or like Mike Rogers, but like might have a question, and you don't want — and you don't want to condescend to that person or be like, ‘No, you're an a--hole for asking.’ Right?"
"And I'm not saying he did," he added. "I thought it was a good — I thought he could have used like 20% less condescension in the answer."
Vietor agreed that El-Sayed’s tone could have been better, and replied, "There’s a slightly more empathetic version of that."
Fellow co-host Jon Lovett said, "Stop fighting with that guy and speak to the people that are not."
Favreau recalled his experience working for former President Barack Obama and said that, regardless of whether a characterization of a candidate's statements is fair, candidates and public officials have to be careful about rhetoric and tone when speaking to voters.
"You can say this from the cheap seats, because I am sure when you are Abdul, and you're going around doing this and there are people who are f---ing just calling into question your loyalty to your country that you love, it must f---ing infuriate you," Favreau said. "And it's not fair that what he has to do in response is to eat s--- and just give a nice answer with a smile."
"But like we were there when Barack Obama had to do it, and you know Zohran Mamdani had to do it and like, unfortunately, there's a double standard, and it's unfair, but you still have to do it to win an election anyway and it f---ing sucks," he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Jesse Arm, vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute and a former pollster who has followed the Michigan Senate race, suggested El-Sayed's confrontational demeanor may be a key reason he is not doing as well against his Republican opponent as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee is doing in her race in Michigan.
"The ‘Pod Save America’ guys are partisan hacks who bend over backward to excuse El-Sayed’s radicalism and dismiss legitimate scrutiny as bigotry. But even they recognize that his nastiness and condescension are deeply off-putting," Arm told Fox News Digital.
"And if even his most sympathetic defenders can see it, imagine how he comes across to ordinary Michigan voters," he added. "This is a big part of the reason he’s poised to dramatically underperform the state’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee."
Investor Bill Ackman called the Democratic Party "crazy, radicalized and anti-American" during an interview on Tuesday, arguing that the party is "in a very bad place."
"I think the Democratic Party is in the worst place it's ever been, in the 250-year history of the country," Ackman told Katie Miller, host of the "Katie Miller Podcast." "I think it's become like this crazy, radicalized, you know, anti-American thing. I think it's — and by the way, I think there's some very high-quality Democrats, you know, senators and, sure, some congressmen — but the party itself, I think, is in a very bad place."
Ackman specifically named Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as someone he used to be friendly with but now believes has "compromised" on his values.
"And I think the problem with people who've chosen to be a politician for a career, you either have to get with the party in order to continue, or you get primaries," Ackman said. "You know, actually, Senator Schumer, I had a good relationship with him over the years. I thought he was a good man. But in recent years, I felt he's just trying to keep his job."
"And, you know, that's the really low point for politicians when they'll compromise on their values, and they'll support, you know, a quasi-terrorist, perhaps running for Senate in Michigan, because they have to for the party," Ackman said. "Stuff like that to me is, or terrorist supporter, is not, that's, I find that pretty, deeply concerning."
Schumer's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
"Chuck Schumer has been in Washington long enough to know exactly what’s happening to his party. The question isn’t whether he sees it. It’s whether he’s willing to do anything about it," Y. David Scharf, chair of Morrison Cohen’s government strategies and controversies practice, told Fox News Digital of Ackman's remarks.
"There’s something remarkable about watching one of the most powerful Jewish Democrats in America struggle to stand up to the very people in his party who are alienating Jewish voters," he continued. "Bill Ackman isn’t asking Schumer to become a Republican. He’s asking him to act like the Democrat he spent decades telling us he was."
Ackman appeared to reference Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has faced questions over his family's alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The controversy followed a Washington Free Beacon report about social media posts in which El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, described her family's history with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In one 2012 post, Abdelhadi described a conversation with her and El-Sayed's mother, Fatten Elkomy, about her involvement with the organization during college in Egypt.
"Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early '70s while she was in college #respect," she posted to X.
El-Sayed has denied any family connections to the group. During a recent interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," El-Sayed rejected the assertions when asked to set the record straight.
"I have no ties; we have no ties," El-Sayed said.
During a town hall on Saturday, El-Sayed responded to a man identified as Tommy, asking him whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
"Sure," El-Sayed said. "Yeah, absolutely. But I want to ask the question that you're asking: Why are you asking the question?"
Ackman has also previously voiced his opposition to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, criticizing his policies as harmful to the city.
"I'm not a fan," he responded. "He's very smart, very charismatic, very good at politics, but I think the decisions he's making are very bad for New York."
When asked if he'd consider running for mayor, Ackman responded, "I would say possibly, but I think I could achieve a lot more by helping a very talented person do that job."
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