Michigan Senate Debate: El-Sayed, Rogers Clash on Israel Aid, Immigration, Iran

Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers took the stage in Michigan on Thursday evening with the Senate race between them effectively tied and less than four weeks until Election Day. The hour-long debate, broadcast live, became a window into how fractured and personal the contest had grown—two candidates talking over each other, interrupting mid-sentence, each accusing the other of fundamental dishonesty.

El-Sayed, who previously served as health director for Wayne County, is a Democrat running to become the first Muslim member of the US Senate. Rogers, a former congressman, is the Republican nominee. The race itself carries weight beyond Michigan: control of the Senate hangs partly on which party can flip seats in states like this one, though Democrats face long odds since only a third of the chamber's 100 seats are contested in November.

Much of the debate's heat centered on Rogers's repeated insinuations about El-Sayed's identity and allegiances. When discussing surveillance cameras, Rogers pivoted to a question about terrorism watch lists, asking El-Sayed why he would object to such technology "if you have somebody in your family that might be on the terrorism watch list." El-Sayed, visibly frustrated, challenged Rogers to say plainly what he was implying rather than "tiptoeing about it." Earlier, Rogers had claimed El-Sayed had "taken money from individuals on his campaign who openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda"—accusations that echoed attacks El-Sayed has faced throughout the campaign, including from President Trump, who has labeled him an "extremist, terrorist sympathizer." When Rogers referenced a March synagogue attack in Michigan and suggested El-Sayed had failed to condemn it, El-Sayed shot back that he had condemned it. "No, you did not," Rogers replied. "You make stuff up," El-Sayed said. "You make stuff up."

On foreign policy, the candidates found narrow common ground but diverged sharply on its meaning. Both agreed the US war with Iran should end. El-Sayed blamed the Trump administration for triggering Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane, and tied high gas prices and inflation directly to the conflict. "This is what happens when you start wars you never should be fighting," he said. Rogers acknowledged the war needed to end but defended it, noting that Iran's uranium enrichment program had been "set back twenty years"—a White House talking point. El-Sayed accused him of "cheerleading" for the conflict.

On Israel, the divide was clearer. Rogers joined most Republicans in supporting continued military aid to Israel, arguing the country had "the right to defend itself in a very difficult neighbourhood." When asked if anything could cause him to withdraw that support, he said only Israel's use of nuclear weapons would. El-Sayed has called for ending US aid to Israel entirely, pointing out that from October 2023 through September 2025, Israel received nearly $21.7 billion in military aid. He argued those dollars should instead fund American schools, healthcare, and childcare. He also blamed Israel for pushing the US into military action against Iran. "I don't want to be pushed into war by Israel, and I don't want to be in war with Iran," he said.

On immigration, both candidates criticized the militarized nature of Trump's deportation campaign, though from different angles. Rogers said the public operations in Minnesota were "probably not appropriate," suggesting quieter enforcement would have been better, and repeated Trump's claim about record murder decreases. El-Sayed went further, calling for the abolition of ICE itself. "ICE right now is not about immigration enforcement. ICE is about terrorising our streets," he said. The backdrop to this exchange included multiple fatal shootings during immigration enforcement operations, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, and documented cases of racial profiling and excessive force in cities like Minneapolis.

Canada's trade war with the Trump administration also surfaced. El-Sayed tied Rogers to NAFTA and past free trade deals that shifted manufacturing out of the US, though Rogers did not enter Congress until 2001, eight years after NAFTA passed. Rogers sought to distance himself from the current tariff conflict while expressing support for a deal that would lower Canadian tariffs on US goods. Both candidates tried to balance criticism of the trade war's economic damage with acknowledgment that some tariffs might protect domestic jobs.

Debate moderator Rick Albin struggled at times to maintain control. "We've got dozens of questions we want to get to. You can't litigate all of these with 14 different rebuttals, so please work with me," he told the candidates at one point. The tension never fully subsided. With the Senate race considered pivotal to which party controls Congress, and with Michigan itself a perennial battleground, the debate offered voters a stark picture of the choice before them—not just on policy, but on how each candidate defines the other's fundamental fitness for office.