The Michigan Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has erupted into one of the most heated contests of the 2026 midterms, with President Donald Trump personally targeting El-Sayed by deliberately mispronouncing his name and branding him a "jihadist" at campaign rallies. With the election on November 3 and control of the Senate potentially at stake, both parties are treating Michigan as a must-win battleground.
What Trump has said
At a midterm campaign rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, Trump repeatedly referred to El-Sayed as "Mohammed," even though the candidate's first name is Abdul. When the crowd corrected him, Trump acknowledged the real name, then insisted: "I'm the president, I can call him whatever the hell I want." He has repeatedly called the 41-year-old epidemiologist a "radical jihadist" and a "jihadist lunatic," and at an Ohio rally declared, "He's a jihadist." El-Sayed, the former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, would become America's first Muslim senator if elected.
The debate flashpoint
The rhetoric escalated further on the debate stage. Rogers accused El-Sayed of being "bought off by Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda," and alleged that El-Sayed's mother had worked for a charity linked to al-Qaeda — claims the El-Sayed campaign denies, noting his mother was never charged with any crime. Rogers also implied El-Sayed opposed surveillance cameras because someone in his family might be on a watchlist. El-Sayed fired back: "You've been tiptoeing around it the whole time… You going after my mom?"
A race that could decide the Senate
The seat, being vacated by retiring Democrat Gary Peters, is one of a handful that will determine which party controls the Senate for the remaining two years of Trump's term — and with it, judicial appointments and the power to check or enable the White House agenda. Polling has been extremely tight: surveys sit within the margin of error, though the moving average has given El-Sayed a small lead since the summer.
Republicans deny it is about identity
Republicans reject the charge that the attacks are about El-Sayed's name or faith. Senator Tim Scott said the focus is El-Sayed's views and associations, including his ties to commentator Hasan Piker; a Rogers spokesperson said the race is not about "his name or how he prays"; and RNC chairman Joe Gruters linked Trump's criticism to Piker's comments on the October 7 attacks. CNN noted that while attacking El-Sayed's record is legitimate politics, calling a candidate a "jihadist" crosses a line — and that Trump previously drew criticism for fixating on Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein.
The takeaway: Michigan's Senate race has become a national test of how far identity-tinged attacks can go in a dead-heat contest — and both sides agree the outcome on November 3 will echo far beyond the state.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: CNN, The Times, NDTV, Republican View