Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s US Senate election, according to an Associated Press race call, delivering Democrats a crucial victory in their effort to regain control of the chamber.
The 42-year-old Democrat defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched contests of the midterm elections. El-Sayed will become the first Muslim American to serve in the US Senate.
A former public health official who ran the health departments in Wayne County and Detroit, El-Sayed built his campaign around anger over the cost of living and corruption. He attracted young and infrequent voters with calls for single-payer healthcare and tighter restrictions on corporate money in politics.
His victory follows a divisive Democratic primary in which he narrowly defeated congresswoman Haley Stevens by about one percentage point. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and retiring senator Gary Peters had backed Stevens.
The primary became a broader test of the Democratic Party’s direction after two years in the political wilderness. El-Sayed was backed by prominent figures on the political left, although he is not a democratic socialist.
His views on Israel also created difficulties with some Jewish voters. He later apologised for comments made after a truck-ramming attack at a synagogue preschool in the Detroit metropolitan area, and his decision to campaign alongside controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker also drew criticism.
The campaign to unite Democrats remained unsettled after Stevens reversed her position in the closing days of the general election and endorsed Rogers, having initially said she would support the Democratic ticket. Polls after the primary showed a close contest, despite Democrats having held the Michigan Senate seat since 1979.
Rogers, who lost his first Senate bid in 2024, had received an early endorsement from President Trump. He had embraced some of Mr Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud, despite previously condemning them, including after the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
As the election approached, Rogers sought to distance himself from some of the president’s policies, including the war in Iran. El-Sayed also criticised Rogers and other Republicans, accusing them of targeting him with Islamophobic rhetoric.
El-Sayed, a Michigan native, first entered electoral politics with an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2018. His new position in the Senate is expected to give him a prominent platform as Democrats debate their identity, particularly with Michigan set to play an important role in the party’s 2028 presidential nominating process.
