Bitter Michigan Senate race puts Jewish and Arab American voters in the spotlight

DETROIT, MI — Michigan’s open U.S. Senate race between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has become one of the most closely watched contests of the midterm elections, with the war in Gaza shaping the debate in communities around Detroit.

Rogers is a former congressman. El-Sayed, a former public health official, would become the first Muslim U.S. senator if elected. Voters go to the polls on Nov. 3.

Rogers has focused on Oakland County, home to a large Jewish community, where a synagogue in West Bloomfield is still recovering from an attack in March. He has repeatedly criticized El-Sayed’s response to that attack, for which El-Sayed later apologized. Trump has claimed El-Sayed is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; the Associated Press reported there is no evidence of such an affiliation, and El-Sayed has rejected the claim.

Jewish Democrats are divided. Some, including former Rep. Andy Levin, are campaigning for El-Sayed, while others have not endorsed him. In nearby Dearborn, where Trump won by about 6 percentage points in 2024, many Arab American voters have grown more critical of the president, and local leaders have called Republican attacks on El-Sayed “very problematic.”

The outcome could help decide which party controls the Senate after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.