Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers speaks before U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at a MAGA Inc. event in Sterling Heights, Michigan, US., August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky
The Michigan Senate debate on Wednesday turned fiery, as Republican Mike Rogers effectively accused Democrat Abdul El-Sayed of dual loyalty to a foreign Islamic group — and El-Sayed turned it right back on him.
The exchange came during a question about law enforcement, during which Rogers tried to portray El-Sayed as anti-police.
"This guy has got new false information about every 30 seconds," said Rogers. "I will tell you this. He did call for defunding the police, and we found that he deleted all of this material. Why would you do that? Why would you go through and take all of that time to delete all of the material, X videos, comments, podcasts? Why? Because he was passionate about defunding the police. As a matter of fact, he asked the Muslim Brotherhood head, Morsi, in Egypt, to defund the police there too. I mean, it's unbelievable."
El-Sayed did not take this lying down — particularly the last comment.
"Let's talk about this," he said. "He keeps raising this question about this association with an organization I've never been a part of. Because my mom was a nurse in Missouri? It doesn't make any sense. And it's actually really quite beneath you, Mike. It's really quite beneath you to call in and question my loyalty to the Constitution," he said as Rogers tried to interrupt him.
El-Sayed then resumed. "I am proud to be an American. I'm proud of our Constitution, which guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose. And the question that you would ask, I think, is actually really quite shameful. As somebody who's actually served under that Constitution, it is shameful!"
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