Michigan is staying blue as Republicans’ hopes of flipping the state and gaining some breathing room in their thin majority were crushed.
Abdul El-Sayed, who became the veritable face of this midterm cycle acting as the GOP’s boogeyman for Democratic policies across the country, is projected to topple former Rep. Mike Rogers in what was one of the most-watched contests of the election.
In his victory speech, El-Sayed thanked AIPAC, which spent roughly $42 million running a campaign against him, for allowing him the opportunity to beat the American-Israeli interest PAC twice. El-Sayed celebrated his victory by invoking the Arabic phrase “alhamdulillah,” which means “praise be to God.”
The progressive candidate also issued a warning shot to his defeated opponent, Rogers.
“Enjoy your retirement,” El-Sayed said of the Republican candidate. “You chose hate, and Michigan chose hope. May we never have to see the likes of you in this state again.”
Meanwhile, around 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Rogers called on his supporters to go home, sharing that it was going to be a “long night.” Organizers shared with the Detroit News that the hotel needed them out by that time.
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Throughout the campaign, El-Sayed outran alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, concerns about his rhetoric over Israel and Jewish voters in Michigan and criticism from fellow Democrats for his ties to controversial political streamer Hasan Piker.
Rogers failed to outrun the political headwinds that have buffeted Republicans this cycle, including affordability issues, President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada launched in the thick of the midterms and the Iran war, despite his attempts to distance himself and the administration from the latter issues.
El-Sayed’s victory serves as a major blow to the GOP’s push against the progressive lean in Democratic politics, where for much of the cycle after his shock win over Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., Republicans painted him as the face of socialism and communism in their messaging.
He will also be the first Muslim U.S. senator in history. His faith has been used as a line of attack by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who last month during a rally in Michigan accused El-Sayed of being a “jihadist” that would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.”
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“If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas,” Trump said.
Rogers similarly dipped into the same style of rhetoric, arguing to a crowd in Bad Axe, Mich., just days before the election that “This is not someone we can let into the United States Senate.”
“If you don’t know Iran is our enemy, and you can’t condemn a Hezbollah-inspired attack, you have no business being in the United States Senate,” Rogers said.
While Rogers and Republicans have run a national campaign against El-Sayed, the insurgent progressive has taken his own jabs at Trump, but largely ran a campaign focused on affordability issues in Michigan.
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“They want to point to me and my name and my faith as if somehow that’s the problem, but none of those things are what’s raising your gas prices or making a new home unaffordable,” El-Sayed told reporters last month.
The race attracted big names in both parties to stump for their respective candidates, with Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others making the pilgrimage to Michigan for Rogers.
And Democratic heavyweights like former President Barack Obama, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., did the same for El-Sayed.
But El-Sayed’s win does not mean he will jump on board with the Democratic old guard in Washington, D.C. Like other progressives running for the Senate, he’s been publicly critical of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and would prefer Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to lead Democrats in the Senate.