Michigan’s second Senate debate on Wednesday was marked by several heated clashes between Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, although they were far calmer than an explosive first meeting this month.
The debate took place in Detroit less than two weeks before Election Day, part of a hotly contested battle for an open Senate seat. Polls show a neck-and-neck race to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat.
El-Sayed sought to link Rogers to President Donald Trump at every turn and portrayed his opponent as a corporate betrayer. Asked how to address concerns about the cost of living, El-Sayed said rising gasoline and food prices were a product of the war with Iran.
“We need a war powers resolution rather than a senator who will stand with Donald Trump in this war that made no sense when it started and certainly makes no sense now,” El-Sayed said. “I look forward to joining my colleagues in the U.S. Senate in holding Donald Trump accountable in this war. The other thing we’ll have to do is take on the companies that have bought and sold politicians for a very long time.”
Rogers has sought to create space with Trump on the war in recent weeks. He released an ad calling for an end to the war, but he also said there was good reason for Trump to go to war initially to target Iran’s nuclear program. In an interview with NBC News last week, Rogers said, “I don’t think so,” when asked if Trump made a mistake in launching the war.
Additionally, Rogers sought to link El-Sayed to Islamic fundamentalist groups abroad while questioning his resume and reliability.
“Everything he said is not accurate, not correct,” Rogers said in response to El-Sayed’s criticism, adding that El-Sayed misled voters about his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and his own medical history. “It’s a model that we need to understand to be able to trust this candidate.”
Rogers sought to elevate the Muslim Brotherhood in the final weeks of the race, repeatedly claiming that El-Sayed and his family had ties to the Islamist organization. On Wednesday, he said El-Sayed had asked the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt “to defund the police there as well. I mean, it’s unbelievable.”
El-Sayed responded: “He continues to raise this question about this association with an organization that I was never a part of because of my mother, who is a nurse in Missouri. »
During their last debate, Rogers asked El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Elkomy, about her work at a charity that the U.S. government later labeled a supporter of terrorist groups, leading to its closure. Elkomy has never been accused of wrongdoing.
El-Sayed has repeatedly denied any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, telling NBC News last week, “I have no connection, we have no connection,” when asked about the accusations.
“It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s actually really beneath you, Mike. It’s really beneath you,” El-Sayed said Wednesday. “To question my loyalty to the Constitution.”
The exchange culminated in the debate’s most heated moment when Rogers attempted to interrupt El-Sayed.
“I’m speaking,” El-Sayed said, pointing at Rogers. “I’m talking. I’m talking. Excuse me.”
“To question my commitment to the Constitution is truly beneath you. I am proud of America. I am proud to be an American,” El-Sayed continued. “I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees each of us the right to pray as we choose to pray, and the question that you would ask, I think, is actually really shameful.”
Rogers responded that El-Sayed “could pray any way you want, and I know you mean you’re a victim,” adding, “This is an ideology.” »
The debate highlighted a contrast in style between the two candidates that was evident for months during the election campaign, although El-Sayed was far less aggressive than in the first election. El-Sayed looked directly at the camera almost the entire time he spoke. Rogers, meanwhile, offered a few looks directly into the lens, opting instead to make eye contact with the moderators.
The moderators kept tight control over the time candidates were given to answer questions and appeared to touch on every topic they wanted to touch on, with the debate ending a few minutes before the full hour ended. They addressed, among other issues, health care, immigration, crime, Social Security and tariffs.
On the tariffs, Rogers appeared to put further distance between himself and Trump after he called this month for an end to the trade war with Canada. He said Wednesday that while some tariffs have brought “positive” developments for the state, “perhaps these Canadian tariffs were not well thought out.”
He presented himself as someone who could stop Trump from enacting policies that would hurt Michigan.
“You might want to fire the person who can actually set up the meeting to sort these things out,” he said. “If it’s good for Michigan, I’ll be for it. If it’s bad for Michigan, I’ll be against it.”
El-Sayed later questioned the idea of electing a Republican senator to better rein in Trump.
“I’m just trying to figure out how this is going to happen,” he said. “Donald Trump is going to help him get into the United States Senate, and he’s going to turn around and stand up to Trump? Because, you know, we have a real history of Republican senators standing up to Donald Trump right now. I don’t see that happening.”
Throughout the debate, El-Sayed referenced a game of “MAGA bingo” that fans could play at home while watching the debate, with spots on the board filled with some of Rogers’ references. Rogers retorted at one point that “the game of bingo should be how many times can he insert the word ‘Trump’ into an answer.” »
“An answer he gave in the last 30 minutes? » Rogers said. “It’s ridiculous. This really is the best path forward for Michigan.”
The candidates also presented their vision of artificial intelligence. Rogers said he supports an antitrust exemption for pioneering AI companies that only covers coordination on the safety of their technology, and he suggested he might favor a so-called kill switch for programs that become dangerous.
El-Sayed, who recently released an updated AI platform, said he wants a pause on exploratory research and that lawmakers need to take into account “the fact that even the CEOs of these companies think they could eliminate 50% of white-collar jobs in the next five to 10 years.”
“So we need to make sure that AI is in democracy, which means that there will be democratically appointed people on the boards of these AI companies,” he said. “AI shouldn’t be banned either. AI shouldn’t be able to fire you, shouldn’t be able to shoot a gun, shouldn’t be able to deny you health insurance.”
The candidates also answered a series of rapid-fire questions at the end of the debate. Regarding the expansion of the Supreme Court, El-Sayed said he was in favor of such a move, “but fairly.” When asked if he supports universal background checks for gun purchases, Rogers said “it depends.”
After El-Sayed and the moderators responded that it was a yes or no question, Rogers said he was “in the middle.”
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