Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan's Senate Race and Will Be the First Muslim Senator. Oppose His Policies, Not His Faith.
Abdul El-Sayed beat Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim U.S. senator. Here is who he is, how the race unfolded and what he said.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Editor's note: Dock Line Magazine reported earlier on Rep. Haley Stevens' endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in this race. This story covers the result.
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan's U.S. Senate race, defeating Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers, according to a race call by the Associated Press reported early Wednesday, Nov. 4, by NPR. NBC News also projected El-Sayed the winner. Both outlets reported that he will be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate when he is sworn in this January. The seat has been held by Democrats since 1979, NPR noted.
Who he is
El-Sayed, 42, is a Michigan native and former public health official who ran the health departments in Wayne County and the city of Detroit, NPR reported. He campaigned on single-payer health care and curbing corporate money in politics. NPR said he is not a democratic socialist, though his campaign was backed by some of the biggest names on the political left, and NBC News named Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among his allies.
He will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. NBC News reported that a Republican has not won a Senate seat in Michigan since 1994.
A bitter race
The contest was one of the most hostile in the country. NPR reported that El-Sayed's positions on Israel alienated some Jewish voters, including comments after a truck-ramming attack at a synagogue preschool in metro Detroit, for which he later apologized. NBC News reported that his criticism of the Israeli government, which he has accused of genocide, was a consistent flash point, and that a group affiliated with AIPAC spent more than $30 million trying to help Stevens beat him in the primary.
Stevens, who lost the August primary by about a percentage point, endorsed Rogers in the race's closing days after first saying she would back the Democratic ticket, NPR reported. NBC News reported that she linked her decision to El-Sayed's position on Israel and to his campaign's suggestion that she was not welcome at its events.
Religion became part of the fight. NBC News reported that Rogers and his allies tried to turn El-Sayed's stance on Israel into attacks that evoked his religion and questioned his loyalties, and that President Trump's attacks on his faith went furthest, including false claims that "jihadists" were gaining a foothold in American politics and a rally crowd chanting "Deport! Deport!" NPR reported that El-Sayed accused Rogers, Trump and other Republicans of Islamophobic rhetoric.
What he said
Early Wednesday, El-Sayed told supporters, "They tried to confuse you, so let me just set the record straight," before adding, "I love America," NBC News reported. Speaking to Rogers, he said, "See, you chose hate, and Michigan chose hope. May we never have to see the likes of you in this state again."
For background on the endorsement fight, see Democrat Haley Stevens Endorses Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan.
Opinion:
I disagree with Senator-elect El-Sayed on a great deal. Single-payer health care would hand Washington control over one of the most personal parts of American life. His words about Israel, a friend and ally, have been harsh and at times reckless. Voters who opposed him for those reasons had every right to.
But the Constitution settles one question before any campaign starts. Article VI says that no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. That clause protects Baptists in a Muslim neighborhood as surely as it protects a Muslim in Michigan. Christians who want their own liberty protected should be the first to defend it for others.
So the attacks that went after his faith instead of his record were wrong, no matter who made them. Calling an American citizen a jihadist without evidence, or cheering a chant to deport a Michigan-born man, is not conservatism. It is bearing false witness. It also wastes the argument. Every minute spent on a smear is a minute not spent explaining why his policies would fail.
The new senator owes something too. He won. The way to answer distrust is to serve every Michiganian, including the Jewish families who feared him and the voters who chose Rogers. His victory speech told his opponent he chose hate. That is not how to start.
The rule our Lord gave works in both directions: all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Argue hard about policy. Leave a man's faith out of the ballot.
