El-Sayed's Michigan Senate Bid Could Make History and Shift Senate Control

Abdul El-Sayed, an Egyptian American doctor, won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary (the party's nominating contest) in August 2026, weathering Islamophobic attacks. On September 6, he told an Islamic Society conference that being Muslim and American are "not mutually exclusive." If he beats Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers in November, he'd become the first Muslim US senator — in a race that could decide Senate control.