Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate seat, set to be first Muslim senator

Update, 4 November, 10:07 Israel time

US media outlets have now formally called the Michigan Senate race for Abdul El-Sayed, according to N12, which cited its correspondent Keren Bezalel. N12 reported that American outlets had awarded him an official win, meaning he will be the first Muslim senator. The Times of Israel now reports that El-Sayed has won, defeating Mike Rogers, and says the former public health official will take over the seat held by Democratic Senator Gary Peters. It added that his speech, delivered before the result came in, included a jab at AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, as well as at Israel.

Haaretz described the result as a projection and called the contest one of the most closely followed Senate races in the country, saying it had exposed splits within the Democratic Party over Israel and antisemitism. Haaretz identified Rogers as a former Republican congressman.

Further lines from the victory speech were reported by the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express. It said El-Sayed addressed Vice President JD Vance as "habibi", an Arabic term of endearment, remarking on the irony that the Constitution requires Vance to swear him in come January. Addressing Trump, he was quoted as saying that after that swearing-in, Trump could simply call him senator, a reference to past difficulty with his name.

No report yet gives vote totals or a margin, or says whether Rogers has conceded.

The story as first reported

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for one of Michigan's two seats in the United States Senate, declared victory over Republican Mike Rogers early on November 4, 2026, at an election night event in Detroit. The Jerusalem Post reported that the main pollsters had projected him the winner, and Ynet's alerts channel likewise said he was projected to have won. If confirmed, the result would make him the first Muslim ever elected to the Senate, a point made by The Times of Israel and by News.co.il.

In his speech, El-Sayed criticised the use of American tax money abroad in terms widely read as aimed at Israel. According to The Times of Israel, he told supporters he wanted taxes spent on schools, healthcare and infrastructure in Michigan, and said Americans did not want their money used for "apartheid, or genocide, or war". He opened with "Michigan, we did it" and introduced himself by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, as senator-elect.

Who El-Sayed is

Ynet described El-Sayed as the son of immigrants from Egypt. Israeli outlets across the board characterised him as anti-Israel. News.co.il reported that he has opposed American military aid to Israel, accused Israel of "genocide" during the war in Gaza, declined to say that Israel poses less of a threat than Iran, and denied having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement founded in Egypt. Ynet said he wants to block all security assistance to Israel.

His opponent, Mike Rogers, is a former Republican lawmaker. Israel Hayom reported that President Donald Trump had called El-Sayed "a jihadist" and said he would need to pass through metal detectors in the Senate chamber. Abu Ali Express, an Israeli Telegram channel, said El-Sayed had been at the centre of confrontations with Trump in recent months.

The victory speech and its references

El-Sayed told the crowd that throughout the campaign he had said "Inshallah", an Arabic expression meaning "God willing", and that on election night he could replace it with "Alhamdulillah", meaning "praise be to God". The line was picked up as a headline by Ynet.

The Israeli news outlet N12 reported that he also addressed the Palestinian issue directly, telling supporters that people try to brand them as haters for believing Palestinian children deserve to grow up in their ancestral land without being killed with American tax money. The Times of Israel described a separate line, about money going toward bombs dropped on other people's children rather than on Americans and their families, as an apparent swipe at Israel.

The wider midterm picture

The race was part of the US midterm elections, held halfway through a presidential term, when all House seats and about a third of Senate seats are contested. Before results came in, Ynet reported that polls predicted the Democrats would take Congress, which would leave Trump a "lame duck" for the rest of his term. The Republican Speaker of the House was quoted as expecting to "stun the world" as in 2024.

Ynet also interviewed Jewish voters in Michigan, some of whom said they could not vote for El-Sayed and backed Rogers instead, while others had moved in the opposite direction; one voter was quoted as saying they would hold their nose and vote for El-Sayed.

Ynet said Israel featured in several other races, from candidates it called "mini-Mamdanis" who won in New York, a reference to New York City figure Zohran Mamdani, to candidates calling for an end to funding even for Iron Dome, the short-range missile defence system the United States has helped finance. Ynet also referred to a controversy over an advertisement it described as antisemitic, involving eggs in a supermarket and the phrase "7 dollars to kill Palestinians".

Where reports differ

The outlets did not agree on how settled the result was at the time of publication. Israel Hayom and News.co.il reported outright that El-Sayed had won. The Jerusalem Post and Ynet's alerts attributed the win to pollster projections. N12 reported that he had declared victory but that the major networks had not yet called the race, and The Times of Israel said his win "would" make him the first Muslim senator.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives vote totals or a margin, and none says whether Rogers has conceded. No response from the Israeli government or from Jewish community organisations in Michigan has been reported. Ynet's account of the advertisement controversy does not make clear who produced the ad or what role, if any, either campaign played in it.