With less than a month left until the U.S. midterm elections, the leading candidates in the Michigan Senate race faced off in their first televised debate.
But Thursday’s hour-long debate was a microcosm of just how tense the torso race is.
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Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, repeatedly tried to paint his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, as a yacht-owning billionaire who is far removed from the average voter.
Mr. Rogers, a former U.S. congressman, slammed Mr. El-Sayed for being soft on “terrorism” and sympathetic to foreign countries.
The Michigan-born El-Sayed has faced repeated Islamophobic attacks on the campaign trail, with Republican President Donald Trump labeling him an “extremist and terrorist sympathizer” whose history “dates back to the days of jihad.” If elected, El-Sayed will be the first Muslim senator.
The two candidates spent much of the hour on stage talking to each other, exchanging barbs.
“He can’t condemn the terrorist acts that took place on our land in Michigan. He can’t bring himself to condemn–” Rogers began, referring to the synagogue attack in March.
“I condemned it,” El-Sayed said, jumping up. “No, you didn’t make the accusation,” Mr. Rogers replied, to which Mr. El-Sayed immediately responded, “You made it up. You made it up.”
Michigan’s Senate race is seen as key to preserving Republican control of the U.S. Senate. Democrats are seeking to flip both chambers, but shifting control of the Senate will be a tougher prospect given that they hold only one-third of the Senate’s 100 seats on the Nov. 3 vote.
Moderator Rick Albin sometimes struggled to keep the debate on track as tensions rose.
“We have dozens of issues that we want to resolve. We can’t litigate all of these with 14 different counterarguments, so we want you to cooperate,” Albin told the two candidates at one point.
Key takeaways from the evening’s discussion include:
Mr. Rogers hints at links between El-Sayed and ‘terrorist watchlist’
The ferocity of the debate was highlighted by the amount of dehumanizing attacks the candidates launched against each other.
But Mr. Rogers repeatedly pushed a series of attacks centered on Mr. Elsayed’s Muslim identity.
In response to a question about health care, Rogers said El-Sayed “receives campaign funds from individuals who openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda.”
Later, when asked about his position on Flock’s camera surveillance, Mr. Rogers claimed that such technology helps catch terrorist suspects. And he hinted that El-Sayed’s concerns about cameras were suggestive.
“Why does that bother you?” Rogers asked El-Sayed. “Well, if you have a family member who might be on a terrorist watch list…”
El-Sayed interjected, seemingly trying to get Rogers to continue thinking.
“Can I be the first to tell you that I’m XXX? Please,” El-Sayed said. “You’ve been tiptoeing about it all this time. Just say it. Just say it. Now say it.”
Muslim and Arab candidates in the United States frequently come under Islamophobic attacks during election campaigns for supporting “terrorism” and Islamic fundamentalism.
Both countries agree to end Iran war
But there were also issues on which both candidates found some common ground.
Mr. Rogers and Mr. El-Sayed agreed that the United States and Israel’s war against Iran should end, but they held opposing views about Washington’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s role in the conflict.
El-Sayed said high gasoline prices and inflation were a direct result of the Iran war, and blamed the Trump administration for Iran’s decision to close off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade route.
“This is what happens when you start a war that should never be fought,” El-Sayed said. “We literally taught the Iranian regime that the Strait of Hormuz is choking, and now we are living in that reality.”
Mr. Rogers agreed that “we need to end[the war],” but he also justified the conflict by saying that Iran’s uranium enrichment program is “a 20-year setback,” a frequent topic in the White House.
The Trump administration has said the war was necessary to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, a goal the Iranian government has long denied.
Rogers’ position led El-Sayed to accuse him of “cheering” on the war and the Trump administration.
Mr. Rogers supports continued aid to Israel; Mr. El-Sayed calls for an end.
As part of the debate on US foreign policy, the candidates were also pressed on their positions on the US-Israel alliance.
The country is considered the largest recipient of overall U.S. aid since World War II. Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip from October 2023 to September 2025, experts estimate that Israel has received nearly $21.7 billion in military aid.
El-Sayed has publicly called for an end to aid to Israel and has repeatedly condemned the Gaza conflict as a genocide, consistent with assessments by UN experts and human rights watchdogs.
During the debate, he said he would rather see American taxpayers spent on domestic issues such as education and health care than on aid to Israel.
“He wants unconditional support for foreign governments,” El-Sayed said of Rogers. “I want unconditional support for children in schools, unconditional support for health care and childcare.”
He also blamed Israel for US military actions in Iran. “I don’t want to be forced into a war by Israel, and I don’t want a war with Iran,” El-Sayed said.
Meanwhile, Rogers, along with many Republicans, continues to support Israel. He insisted that the country had “the right to defend itself in a very difficult area.”
“Are there any actions by Israel that would cause you to lose your support?” the debate moderator asked.
“Look, if they’re talking about using nuclear weapons, they’re definitely going to lose my support,” Rogers responded.
Rogers says immigration crackdown is ‘inappropriate’
Another issue during the debate was President Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
The Republican leader has pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, and his campaign has raised human rights concerns.
Asked how they would tackle the crackdown, Mr. Rogers and Mr. El-Sayed agreed to tone down the militarized nature of the operation.
Immigration officials in several cities, including nearby Minneapolis, Minnesota, have been accused of racial profiling, using excessive force against immigrants and protesters, and violating due process rights.
There have been multiple fatal shootings during immigration crackdowns, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Preti in January.
Mr. Rogers suggested he would not support such a confrontational operation, but reiterated Mr. Trump’s claim that the raids are taking dangerous criminals off the streets.
“I think the public effort in Minnesota was probably not appropriate,” Rogers said. “People always try to stay quiet and get out of their neighborhoods to eliminate bad guys and reduce problems. So, to me, that was something they could have done differently.”
He later claimed that under the Trump administration, the country had seen “the greatest decline in homicides in history.”
Meanwhile, El-Sayed has previously voiced support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a key agency in Trump’s deportation campaign. He defended that position in the debate.
“Today’s ICE is not about immigration enforcement. ICE is about terrorizing our streets,” he said.
Candidates debate Canada’s trade war and tariffs
President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, which was also felt acutely in neighboring Michigan, was also a key topic of conversation.
Mr. El-Sayed portrayed Mr. Rogers as an uncritical supporter of Mr. Trump and his tariffs, tying them to past free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which paved the way for companies to move manufacturing facilities outside the United States.
“You did it, dude. That was your policy. NAFTA, that was your policy,” El-Sayed said.
Mr. Rogers sought to distance himself from the current trade war, but expressed support for a deal with Canada that would ease some of Ottawa’s tariffs on U.S. goods.
“I hope we can get a deal done,” Rogers said, adding that Canada’s high tariffs on U.S. products “should be eliminated.”
Both candidates sought to strike a balance between criticizing the economic impact of the trade war and acknowledging support for selective tariffs supported by some industries and unions as a way to protect domestic jobs.
