03.11.2026 22:00
Ahead of the midterm elections to be held in the US on November 3, polls in Michigan indicate that Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed could become the country's first Muslim senator. While winning the race in Michigan is critical to the Democrats' plans to gain a majority in the Senate, Trump had accused El-Sayed of being a "terrorist".
The midterm elections to be held in the US on Tuesday, November 3, will determine which party will hold the majority in Congress for the remainder of Donald Trump's presidency. But the elections could also go down in history in other respects. Polls in the state of Michigan indicate that Democratic Party candidate Abdul El-Sayed will become the country's first Muslim senator.
EL-SAYED LIVES IN A TOUGH DISTRICT El-Sayed, a doctor who has never held elected office, is at the center of one of the most polarized election races. Tension rose further in the final days of the campaign when Democrat Haley Stevens, whom he narrowly edged out in the primary to choose his party's nominee, announced her support for Republican candidate Mike Rogers. In response to reporters on Sunday, November 1, El-Sayed said: "In this state, there are 10 million people who deserve far better than those who govern them. I am focusing more on the 9,999,998 people other than the two you mentioned."
Born in 1984 in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, El-Sayed was raised by his father and stepmother Jacqueline Johnson after his parents divorced when he was three. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and Columbia University and specialized in epidemiology. His appointment in 2015 to head the Detroit Health Department made national news. Three years later, he ran for governor of Michigan. He finished second in the Democratic primary but was more than 20 points behind Gretchen Whitmer, who would later serve two terms as governor. Whitmer endorsed Stevens in the primary for the 2026 Senate race.
HE RECEIVED SUPPORT FROM PROMINENT FIGURES But after El-Sayed won the nomination, she openly supported his election campaign. El-Sayed has the support of figures from the party's progressive wing, such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. More moderate Democrats, including former US President Barack Obama, also supported his campaign. One reason for this is that winning the race in Michigan is critical to Democrats' plans to gain a majority in the Senate. In his campaign built on left-wing policies, El-Sayed also highlighted and criticized US military aid to Israel, alongside issues such as taxing billionaires to ensure everyone has access to healthcare.
Abdul El-Sayed "ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN GAZA" At an election rally held on Thursday, October 29, El-Sayed told supporters: "It shouldn't be this hard to know that when you pay your taxes, that money will be spent on you and your children instead of dropping bombs on other people and their children." El-Sayed described Israel's operation in Gaza as genocide. El-Sayed said Israel also practices apartheid in the occupied West Bank. The 42-year-old El-Sayed's opposition to military aid is not limited to Israel. He often says he wants taxes collected in the US to be used "to build schools and create opportunities instead of being sent abroad and dropping bombs on anyone."
TRUMP'S "TERRORIST" ACCUSATION On Wednesday, October 28, El-Sayed said, "I don't think we should generally be financing other countries' militaries. That includes Israel. Egypt too. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well." Nevertheless, US President Donald Trump accused El-Sayed, the son of an Egyptian immigrant family, of "siding with terrorists." Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, said at a Rogers campaign rally on October 15: "You deserve better than this little sneaky man who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything."
Although Rogers distanced himself from Trump's remarks, he accused El-Sayed's campaign of accepting financial support from donors linked to radical and extremist organizations. Republicans also accused El-Sayed of being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamist organization. The organization briefly came to power in the country after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. El-Sayed denies having any connection.
But his opponents brought up his signing of an open letter in 2012 calling on former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to "purge the media and police as quickly as possible." El-Sayed was also criticized for his ties to left-wing commentator Hasan Piker, who said the US "deserved" the September 11 attacks. Last August, he apologized to Michigan's Jewish community for his remarks about the reasons behind a violent attack by an Arab American on a synagogue in Detroit. According to Jewish Insider's assessment, El-Sayed's candidacy divided Jewish voters in Michigan who traditionally support Democrats.
The news site, which included the views of prominent community figures, predicted that some votes would shift to the Republican candidate. El-Sayed, meanwhile, stressed throughout the campaign that he was committed to the US Constitution and asked voters to judge him by his policies, not his background. "My name or my faith is not the reason people cannot afford gas or food, cannot go to the doctor, or worry about the air they breathe and the water they drink," he said. "I may worship a little differently from the average American, but we pray for the same things."