Abdul El-Sayed makes history as first Muslim elected to U.S. Senate in Michigan

The 41-year-old progressive’s victory comes after a shocking endorsement from his primary opponent and personal attacks on his Muslim faith.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won the U.S. Senate race in Michigan, defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in what was a highly contentious midterm contest.

El-Sayed, who will become the nation’s first Muslim U.S. Senator, bested Rogers, with nearly 52% of the vote, according to the latest vote tallies from the Associated Press.

The victory of El-Sayed, a 41-year-old epidemiologist who previously led Detroit’s health department, adds to Democrats’ already recaptured control of the U.S. Senate in the next session of Congress. The battleground state victory is also a win for progressive Democrats whose organizing helped push El-Sayed over the finish line in the August Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens.

“Michigan, I cannot wait to serve you with the same big-heartedness, open-mindedness, grit, and earnestness that you’ve shown me,” Abdul El-Sayed said in a victory speech on Tuesday night in Detroit before his race was officially called by news outlets.

“Rather than try to unite us to contend with the crisis of gas or groceries, the opposition decided to try to divide us,” said the U.S. Senator-elect.

Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed faced personal attacks over his Muslim faith, as Republicans tried to tie the Democrat to the Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood. The Democrat was called a “jihadist” by President Donald Trump and Republicans, who sought to paint him as radical and a threat to the United States.

El-Sayed told his supporters, “They pointed to my name and my faith as if to say, you know, he’s a little different. And when it didn’t work, they tried to guilt me by association. And when that didn’t work, they went all in on one of the ugliest campaigns we’ve seen in our lifetimes.”

The Democrat also defied a cloud of negativity over his campaign after Rep. Stevens shockingly endorsed Rogers over her own party’s nominee, which was slammed for using Black voters as a “prop.” El-Sayed and Stevens clashed over the issue of Israel and the United States’ financial backing of the Israeli government’s military strikes in Gaza, which have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the joint U.S.-Israel war in Iran, which is driving up the costs of gas and energy prices.

Stevens has received more than $35 million from the pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. She called on El-Sayed to denounce what she described as an antisemitic ad in support of him that linked high grocery prices to U.S. funding in Israel.

Despite the political headwinds, El-Sayed ran a disciplined campaign focused on reducing costs, tackling political corruption, and establishing Medicare for All.

While the Democrat failed to capture the support of a majority of Black voters in Michigan, he spent a considerable amount of his campaign doing outreach to Black communities. He also got the backing of America’s first Black president, Barack Obama, and first Black U.S. vice president, Kamala Harris–both of whom campaigned with El-Sayed in Michigan.

The progressive highlighted Michigan’s history of racial discrimination in maternal health and housing, also known as redlining, and promised Black Michiganders that he would address historical racial harms that still reverberate in Black communities today.

“They want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us…we’re big enough to take on the crises that we face,” El-Sayed said of his critics. He added, “If you believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination, that’s not hate—it’s love.”