Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate seat and will be America's first Muslim senator

A Michigan seat and a national result

Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's open Senate seat, defeating Mike Rogers, and will become the first Muslim senator in the United States. El-Sayed, 42, is a former public health official and the son of Egyptian immigrants. The result came on Tuesday, 3 November, as midterm elections left Republicans without control of either chamber of Congress and Democrats across the country took back power in Congress.

Speaking on Wednesday, 4 November, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani praised incoming progressives, naming James Talarico of Texas and El-Sayed among them. He said:

“This country has elected a new generation of leadership.”

Voters looking past faith

Interviews with Muslim voters in Illinois, Michigan and Washington, D.C., found that few saw the win as significant because El-Sayed shares their religion. Many instead see him as part of a progressive Democratic coalition that prioritizes affordability, universal health care and ending US funding for Israel.

In Dearborn, Michigan, Karrar Al-Sadkhan, 18, cast his first-ever ballot at a middle school and chose El-Sayed. He said economic concerns drove his choice:

“The Democratic side was more focused on gas and health care and grocery prices, so that motivated me.”

Mohamad Saab, 23, a college student who also voted for El-Sayed in Dearborn, said the United States is a secular nation and wants to remain one. The New York Times notes that the win strengthens the community's rising influence in national politics, even as Islamophobia is surging in some quarters. Backlash to that Islamophobia most likely contributed to El-Sayed's success.

Online backlash and a press clash

Laura Loomer, described by the Guardian as an informal Trump adviser, announced on X on Tuesday night that she hoped everyone was learning Arabic. She then posted almost 100 more messages lamenting what she called an Islamic communist takeover and calling for a full Muslim ban.

Sky News correspondent James Matthews tried to question El-Sayed as the first polls closed on Tuesday, 3 November, but El-Sayed would not engage. The Independent reports that El-Sayed told Matthews he wanted zero votes from the UK. Spanish-language outlet ABC reports that El-Sayed asked the reporter whether he voted in Michigan and gripped his shoulders during the exchange. Matthews responded:

“It was disappointing that he didn't feel able to take questions from foreign media.”

ABC compared El-Sayed's economic populism with Trump's America First message. It also recalled that former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene once criticized a White House reporter's French accent and called for foreign journalists to be expelled.

What comes next

El-Sayed addressed supporters in Michigan in the early hours of Wednesday, 4 November, and used Arabic in his victory speech. ABC reports that he intends to join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he plans to push positions on the relationship between the United States and Israel. ABC notes that the Senate holds significant powers over foreign policy, which gives his committee seat reach beyond Michigan.