Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers faced off on Thursday in their first televised debate in Michigan's U.S. Senate race, an hour-long, often acrimonious encounter in Grand Rapids less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections. The contest for an open seat is widely seen as a toss-up and as pivotal to the battle for control of the Senate, where only a third of the 100 seats are up for election.
The two men frequently talked over each other. Rogers, a former Republican congressman, accused El-Sayed of failing to condemn a March attack on a synagogue in Michigan; El-Sayed, a former public health official who headed the health department of Wayne County, said he had condemned it and accused Rogers of making things up. Rogers also said El-Sayed had taken campaign money from people who support Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, and he implied that El-Sayed might have a relative on a terrorism watch list. El-Sayed challenged him to say it openly. El-Sayed, born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents, would be the first Muslim in the Senate if elected. He has faced Islamophobic attacks, including from President Donald Trump, who a day earlier called him a "terrorist sympathizer" in a social media post. El-Sayed has said Trump is using his name and faith to distract from the effects of his policies. For his part, El-Sayed portrayed Rogers as a wealthy, out-of-touch candidate.
The candidates found some common ground on foreign policy and immigration. Both said the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran should end. El-Sayed blamed the conflict for high gasoline prices and inflation, and said it had led Iran to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade route. Rogers defended the aims of the war, saying Iran's uranium enrichment programme had been "set back twenty years", though Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons. They differed sharply on Israel: El-Sayed, who calls Israel's war in Gaza a genocide, wants U.S. aid ended and money spent on schools and healthcare, while Rogers said Israel has the right to defend itself, adding that he would withdraw support if it discussed using nuclear weapons.
On immigration, Rogers said enforcement operations in Minnesota, where agents have been accused of excessive force and fatal shootings occurred in January, were "probably not appropriate", while maintaining that raids remove dangerous criminals. Rogers has also recently broken with Trump on ending the Iran war quickly and on tariffs on Canada.
The debate matters because both candidates face a balancing act. El-Sayed, who won a bitter Democratic primary by less than a percentage point, is trying to reunite his party and win over independents and former Trump voters, while trailing roughly 2-to-1 in advertising spending. Rogers, who lost a 2024 Senate race by just under 20,000 votes, must energise Republicans without Trump on the ballot while courting moderates.