El-Sayed and Rogers trade insults in fiery Michigan Senate debate

A debate built on personal attacks

The first televised debate between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers took place on Thursday night in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and quickly turned acrimonious. The Michigan-born El-Sayed, formerly the health director for Wayne County, repeatedly sought to paint Rogers as a yacht-owning millionaire out of touch with ordinary voters. Rogers, a former member of the US House of Representatives, accused El-Sayed of being soft on "terrorism" and of having foreign sympathies. Much of the hour consisted of answers to the moderator's questions, with each candidate steering the conversation toward the issue on which he felt strongest. The two men often spoke over one another, and host Rick Albin at times struggled to keep the debate on track. Albin told the candidates:

We've got dozens of questions we want to get to. You can't litigate all of these with fourteen different rebuttals, so please work with me.

Terrorism accusations and identity

Rogers pushed a series of attacks that centred on El-Sayed's identity as a Muslim, linking him to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda. Rogers said El-Sayed receives money from those who openly support those groups:

He receives money from those who openly support Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda; his family was even involved in those conversations.

Rogers framed the issue as national security. He said keeping the country safe was the most important thing he would do in Washington, citing his service in the US uniform and his work as an FBI special agent. He also referred to a March attack on a synagogue, saying El-Sayed "can't condemn a terrorist act that happened on our soil in the state of Michigan." El-Sayed responded "I did condemn it," and Rogers replied "No, you did not," before El-Sayed said "You make stuff up. You make stuff up." The attacks reached beyond the stage. President Donald Trump labelled El-Sayed an "extremist, terrorist sympathizer" whose history "goes back to the days of the Jihad." Al Jazeera reports that El-Sayed has repeatedly faced Islamophobic attacks on the campaign trail. If elected in November, he would be the first Muslim member of the US Senate.

AIPAC and Israel

POLITICO reported that Rogers was asked during the debate whether he would welcome public backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and he did not rule it out. He said that "anybody that wants to help my campaign stop" El-Sayed would get his thanks: "I'll take all of that help." AIPAC's super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent more than $30 million against El-Sayed in the Democratic primary. El-Sayed turned that spending into a campaign theme, railing against the group's heavy spending to rally progressives to his side. According to the tracker AdImpact, the group does not appear to have spent on television ads since. Axios reported in August that allies of Rogers had asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf, and that the group scrapped a video ad against El-Sayed a day after Rogers spoke with AIPAC board chair Michael Tuchin. Rogers also reportedly attended AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in California in August, and a representative for the United Democracy Project declined to comment.

Rogers and El-Sayed also clashed over US military aid for Israel. Rogers said he supports Israel's "right to defend itself in a very difficult neighborhood." El-Sayed took the opposite position:

I don't want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries.

He opposes sending American money to finance other countries, regardless of which ones they are.

Stakes and polling

The Michigan seat is considered key to Republican control of the US Senate, while Democrats are seeking to flip both chambers of Congress. Shifting control of the Senate is the tougher prospect, since only a third of its 100 seats are on the November 3 ballot. Several polls show a close contest, and more than $280 million has been spent on advertising so far. Polls now show a slight Democratic lead, but nothing is decided, and the seat could go to either party on November 3.