How did Abdul El-Sayed become the first Muslim US senator by winning Michigan?

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive critic of Israel who ran to the left of his party on universal health care, narrowly won the Democratic primary and then beat Republican Mike Rogers to hold the Michigan Senate seat. BBC correspondent Nada Tawfik said Republicans saw him as their best chance to flip a seat and ran a campaign with anti-Muslim rhetoric, including Donald Trump falsely calling him a jihadist.

• Abdul El-Sayed called the campaign against him one of the ugliest in a lifetime.
• Barack Obama campaigned for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
• Progressives read the result as proof that an affordability message can win a swing state.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-11-04). Read the whole episode summary →

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