Abdul El-Sayed makes history as 1st Muslim elected to US Senate

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday (3 November), becoming the first Muslim elected to the chamber and retaining a critical seat for his party.

El-Sayed’s victory in the closely contested election marked a breakthrough for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and denied ⁠Republicans a chance to flip the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

El-Sayed, 42, a former public health official, focused on lowering costs for working families and reducing corporate influence in politics.

His platform included Medicare for All, a government-funded universal health care program championed by progressives in his party.

Republicans held a 53-47 Senate majority going into Tuesday’s midterm elections, with Democrats ⁠needing ⁠a net gain of four seats to take control.

His opponent Mike Rogers, 63, a former

congressman and FBI agent, entered the race with strong backing from Trump and national Republicans.

He had sought to cast El-Sayed as a radical candidate sympathetic to Islamic extremism through alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, ⁠claims that El-Sayed denies and that remain unsupported by evidence.

Democrats said the attacks on El-Sayed relied on Islamophobic tropes.

Rogers also devoted significant effort to courting Jewish voters who may have been uneasy with El-Sayed's opposition to U.S. military aid for Israel and his condemnation of ⁠Israel's Gaza genocide.

But Rogers struggled to overcome ⁠voter concerns about the economy and Trump's low ratings. In the closing weeks of the race, he broke with the ⁠president on the war in ⁠Iran and the U.S. trade dispute with Canada,

arguing ⁠that ending both was necessary to help bring down costs for businesses and consumers.

Source: Daily Sabah