Michigan Senate candidates El-Sayed and Rogers hold final debate

Candidates clash over Medicare for All, immigration, Iran and Trump’s role

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers held their second and final debate Wednesday evening in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, clashing over foreign policy, immigration and health care during an hourlong face-off. The state is viewed as crucial to Senate control in November’s midterms, and topics tied to the Middle East have been a dominant theme in the middle-of-the-nation campaign, in part because El-Sayed is the son of Egyptian immigrants.

On health care, El-Sayed repeatedly brought up Medicare for All, a mainstay of his platform that would replace private insurance with a single national payer. The proposal has separated progressive Democrats like El-Sayed from more moderate candidates. El-Sayed touted his record leading Wayne County’s health department and accused Rogers of accepting money from pharmaceutical and insurance companies in the past. “We cannot afford to have a United States Senator who is in bed with big pharma,” he said.

Rogers called the proposal “outrageously expensive,” said it would force residents to give up their existing private insurance and advocated market reforms. He also suggested several times that El-Sayed was “aligned” with the Democratic Socialists of America, a claim El-Sayed has repeatedly rejected. “People will understand how ridiculous this is,” Rogers said of Medicare for All.

El-Sayed repeatedly reminded viewers of Rogers’s ties to Trump and of the president’s scheduled visit to Michigan on Sunday. Former President Barack Obama was scheduled to appear with El-Sayed in Detroit the day before. El-Sayed said: “He is going to bend to Donald Trump because he is a sock puppet for the man.” Rogers repeatedly said he would break from Trump if doing so was good for the state. “If it’s good for Michigan, I’m going to be for it,” he said. “If it’s bad for Michigan, I’m going to be against it.”

Late in the debate, Rogers advocated voter-ID requirements. “I think it’s very reasonable and rational to ask for a voter ID,” he said. “It won’t do anything, and it builds confidence in our elections.” El-Sayed accused Rogers of using a buzzword associated with Trump. “I told you at the outset, he was going to make this about MAGA bingo, all the different buzzwords,” El-Sayed said. “At this point, I think everybody playing has already won.”

Rogers praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement for targeting violent criminals, which he claimed had helped reduce crime in the U.S. He said the country should stay the course with immigration enforcement and accused El-Sayed of supporting “open borders.” He said El-Sayed wanted to give immigrants who were in the country illegally driver’s licenses, while also wanting to give them Medicare “when they get here.” “Find those folks who are committing crimes and get them the heck out of the country,” Rogers said.

El-Sayed rebuked ICE’s tactics, which he characterized as aggressive, and called for a clear pathway to citizenship. “He supports ICE running through your streets,” El-Sayed said. “They don’t have to tell you who they are, they don’t have to tell you why they’re there.”

During the Muslim Brotherhood exchange, Rogers told viewers that El-Sayed has been “bought off” by the organization and asked: “Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” The accusation mirrored past attacks on El-Sayed. Republican opponents have repeatedly attempted to tie him to the group, and Trump said earlier this month: “100%, he’s a Muslim Brotherhood guy.”

El-Sayed denied any ties to the group, rebuked Rogers for questioning his patriotism and had previously disavowed the organization. He suggested that Rogers had wrongfully questioned his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution in the campaign. “I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray,” El-Sayed said, adding that Rogers’s insinuation was “shameful.”

Rogers shot back: “I wore the uniform of the United States proudly, as my son did. My wife served. My brother served. My father served. So you could pray any way you want. And I know you want to make this about you being a victim.”

The Muslim Brotherhood refers to a network of organizations involved in regional Islamist movements, with distinct groups in several Middle Eastern countries. Some branches have been designated terrorist groups by the Trump administration.

On foreign policy, the candidates offered different positions on Iran and Israel. In their previous debate, El-Sayed declined to say whether Iran or Israel posed the greater threat to U.S. security. In the final debate, he was asked whether Iran presented a significant threat and about future strategy; he looked to the past for a contrast with President Trump. “There is no doubt that Iran has posed a threat,” he said. “Here’s the problem with it, though, is that, that threat had been contained back during the Obama administration when he used diplomacy and not war to contain the threat.”

El-Sayed said Rogers was “hip to hip” with Trump on the war in Iran, which he said was costing voters in higher gasoline and other prices. Rogers countered that El-Sayed “doesn’t believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel.”