President Trump urges Michigan voters to oppose El-Sayed, citing 9/11

President Donald Trump strengthened his ties to U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to Islamic extremists at a campaign rally Sunday, likening him to the 9/11 attackers and saying Democrats would allow violent anti-American terrorists into the United States.

“I’m here to stop a jihadist and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood from becoming a member of the United States Senate,” President Trump told an enthusiastic audience in Port Huron, Michigan.

If he wins, El-Sayed will become the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Senate. President Trump has sought to portray El-Sayed as an anti-American Islamic extremist, and on Sunday he took that rhetoric to a new level, comparing him to the attackers who seized United Flight 93 in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Michigan is hosting one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. Senate races ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers and El-Sayed vying for the open seat that will determine control of the House of Representatives.

The president on Sunday compared the vote against El-Sayed to the actions of Michigan native Todd Beamer and others who fought back against the Flight 93 hijackers.

“After 25 years, Michiganders need to stand up and fight like Todd and stop jihadists from invading our Capitol,” President Trump said.

If Mr. El-Sayed wins, Mr. Trump said, “he would be the only senator to have to go through a metal detector before entering the Senate.”

Mr. El-Sayed has dismissed the charges against him and defended his religion in a recent ad, saying “there is too little faith in Washington.”

Mr. Rogers claimed without evidence that Mr. El-Sayed had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups.

El-Sayed denied any involvement with the group, saying it was “shameful” for Rogers to question his loyalty to the United States.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday before the Port Huron rally, Rogers said El-Sayed had not adequately answered questions about the allegations.

“He’s a candidate aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, and he has a pretty radical support group that doesn’t like America,” he said.

President Trump’s speech in eastern Michigan on Sunday came a day after former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in the state and emphasized the state’s importance in next week’s election.

At a Saturday rally in Detroit, President Obama denounced attacks by El-Sayed’s opponents as an attempt to make him seem “less patriotic and less American than they are.”

The former president likened them to his own experience of being targeted for falsely claiming to be born in Kenya.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” President Obama said. “I starred in it…This stuff didn’t work for me. It doesn’t work for Michigan. It doesn’t work for Abdul.”

Port Huron is part of the region in Michigan that Trump won with more than 66% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.

One of the issues that dominated the state’s campaign was the U.S.-Canada tariff conflict, which affected the Detroit-based U.S. auto industry and prompted Mr. Rogers to distance himself from the president’s policies.

Mr. Rogers on Sunday welcomed President Trump’s tariffs to secure manufacturing investment in Michigan by Chevrolet and Detroit Diesel, but said, “I’m a little concerned about the auto portion of the Canadian tariffs.”

“There are some good things and some things we need to work on,” he said on “Meet the Press.”

In an interview with Fox News ahead of Sunday’s rally, President Trump praised Rogers as someone who shares the beliefs of Michigan voters.

“He’s going to be a great senator,” President Trump said on the “Sunday Briefing” program. “Hard as a rock. Apple pie.”

Democrats only need to pick up a few seats in the House and Senate to overturn the slim 53-47, 218-214 Republican majorities.