Former Rep. Mike Rogers and his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, tore into each other at their second Michigan Senate debate Wednesday evening.
Rogers, a former FBI special agent and the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, clashed with El-Sayed over the personal barbs, accusations and fierce divides that have defined one of the country’s most anticipated Senate elections.
Here are some of the most noteworthy moments from the fiery faceoff.
As evidence of Rogers’ alignment with President Donald Trump, El-Sayed accused him of backing the war in Iran, a conflict El-Sayed himself described as “aimless.”
“He’s got a war for everything, and he won’t back off the war now. He supports this war,” El-Sayed said.
“If you don’t believe me, I want you to pay attention. On Sunday, when Donald Trump comes here at the invitation of Mike Rogers to remind you that, in fact, Donald Trump is on the ballot through Mike Rogers. They are hip to hip on this war, and you are paying the cost,” he added, referring to one of Rogers’ upcoming campaign events.
Rogers quickly fired back, reiterating a moment from their first debate when El-Sayed refused to answer whether Israel or Iran posed a greater threat to the U.S.
“My opponent can’t even condemn the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], which is the terrorist enforcement arm of Iran, and doesn’t believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel. This is an absolute nonstarter,” Rogers said.
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At one point during the debate, Rogers accused El-Sayed of deleting social media content about defunding the police, a progressive stance that circulated among far-left Democrats in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
“I will tell you this: he did call for defunding the police ⦠[and] he deleted all of this material. Why would you do that? Why would you go through and take all of that time to delete all of the material? X videos, comments, podcast. Why? Because he was passionate about defunding the police,” Rogers said.
“As a matter of fact, he asked the Muslim Brotherhood head, Morsi, in Egypt to defund the police there, too,” Rogers added, referring to the former Egyptian president associated with the group.
The last remark triggered a fierce reaction from El-Sayed, who has fended off questions about ties to the Muslim Brotherhood throughout his campaign.
“He keeps raising this question about this association with the organization,” El-Sayed said. “It’s really quite beneath you.”
Although Fox News Digital has not discovered any links between El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, critics have pointed to El-Sayed’s ties to the Muslim Students Association (MSA), a group listed as part of a strategy memorandum for North America written by one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s members, Mohamed Akram.
El-Sayed served as the vice president of the MSA chapter at the University of Michigan during his time there as a senior in 2007, according to College Fix.
Throughout the night, El-Sayed doubled down on promises to expand government programs like Medicaid and measures to “put money in your pocket,” a refrain that has been a cornerstone of his campaign.
But Rogers made sure to cast doubt on those commitments, arguing that the policies would carry with them a heftier price tag than the Democratic nominee would acknowledge.
“So think of all of the three things he just talked about. Put money in your pockets. It’s a great slogan. There’s nothing behind it. Matter of fact, when his Democratic socialist-aligned policies are engaged, you’ll be lucky to have a damn pair of pants when you’re done,” Rogers said.
“Medicare for All. He doesn’t tell you how much taxes you have to get charged, and you lose your private health insurance. These aren’t real solutions. These are solutions that are going to make your life more miserable. And it’s going to take away your choices in healthcare.”
When asked about AI regulation, Abdul El-Sayed briefly mentioned he would support having “democratically appointed folks on the board of these AI corporations,” citing what he described as an existential threat to the workforce.
Rogers seized on the moment, accusing El-Sayed of verbalizing a desire to exercise public control of private companies.
“He said the quiet part out loud,” Rogers said.
“He wants government to go into these businesses. That is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). [They] come in for your business and your future. And so, you need to really stop for a minute and think about, do you want somebody who wants the government involved in these companies?” Rogers added.
Notably, Abdul El-Sayed has not officially received an endorsement from the DSA, nor has he affirmed the group’s platform. Even so, he has endorsed and received endorsements from a number of candidates who have received the DSA’s backing. Among them, El-Sayed supported New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, in his bid for office last year.
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At the close of the debate, Rogers fired back at El-Sayed when the Democratic candidate needled him for refusing to answer yes or no to a question about implementing universal background checks for gun purchases.
“It all depends. It all depends,” Rogers said.
“It’s not hard. Look at that. So dependable,” El-Sayed quipped.
Rogers fired back, noting that El-Sayed had once called for doing away with the Second Amendment in comments he had made before he launched his Senate bid.
“You want to ban the Second Amendment. Why don’t you talk about that?”
Rogers was alluding to a video published on YouTube in 2023 in which El-Sayed had compared the right to bear arms to a right to healthcare.
“What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have healthcare?” El-Sayed said.
He claimed altruism in the proposal, saying more people would live and arguing against individuals owning firearms, instead suggesting that only designated community-based groups like police forces should be issued firearms.
The video has since been made private.
With their second debate now in the rearview mirror, El-Sayed and Rogers have closed out their scheduled debates and are unlikely to meet again until after the election. Having cleared their respective primaries and secured their parties’ nominations, the pair will face off in Michigan’s general election on Nov. 3.
After the debate, MIGOP Chairman Jim Runestad said in a statement to Fox News Digital: “Mike Rogers demonstrated yet again why he is the commonsense, steady hand Michiganders want to see in the U.S. Senate. We cannot afford Abdul El-Sayed’s far-left, big-government policies, and we cannot risk electing a person who campaigns with the likes of Hasan Piker and seemingly justified the horrific terrorist attack targeting children and the Jewish community in Bloomfield Hills.”