Rogers and El-Sayed compete for retiring Sen. Gary Peters’s open seat

President Donald Trump used a Sunday campaign rally in Port Huron, Michigan, to portray Abdul El-Sayed as a threat to national security and question his loyalty to the United States. Calling the former Detroit health official a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists,” Trump said El-Sayed would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.”

Trump repeatedly invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and compared efforts to stop El-Sayed from entering the Senate chamber with the passengers who fought back against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93. He also attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and said he had come to Michigan “to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.”

Port Huron is a Canadian border city about an hour north of Detroit and sits near communities where Trump made significant gains among Arab American voters in 2024. Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win Dearborn, a city with one of the nation’s largest concentrations of Arab Americans. The report said Dearborn helped Trump win Michigan in 2024 after many voters in the city were outraged by the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. During his first term, Trump imposed a travel ban targeting several predominantly Muslim countries. As Election Day approached, he increasingly used anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Bahbah rejects Trump’s criticism of El-Sayed

In a phone interview, Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump and a former top Arab American ally, said, “The president’s statements are out of line.” He added, “They are crossing a red line. They are racist.” Arab Americans for Trump helped lead Trump’s outreach to Arab American voters in 2024 and has since changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace.

Bahbah said Trump’s remarks were unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, including Christian Arabs. “The remarks are out of line and crazy. I mean, no sane individual would say these things,” he said. Bahbah also said, “The president of the United States saying that about a person because of his religion, that is just not acceptable.” He added, “And people are going to remember that on Nov. 3.”

In the final weeks of the campaign, Republican messaging sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement with branches that the U.S. government has designated as terrorist organizations. The report found no evidence that El-Sayed had any affiliation with the group.

El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote on social media in 2012 that “my family has long been MB” and described a conversation with her mother about her involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1970s. El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents who divorced when he was young. He was raised by his father, not his biological mother.

Responding to Trump, who regularly mocks his name, El-Sayed told supporters at a rally in Grand Rapids later Sunday that he did not care how Trump pronounced or misrepresented it. “I don’t even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on and call me ‘senator’ after November,” El-Sayed said, drawing cheers. “I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro.” El-Sayed would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected. He has called attacks on his loyalty to the country “shameful” and repeatedly denied ties to extremist groups.

Trump also targeted El-Sayed’s ties to popular streamer Hasan Piker, who appeared alongside the Democrat multiple times during the primary campaign, including at his election-night event. Piker in the past said that “Hamas is a thousand times better” than Israel, described some Orthodox Jews as “inbred” and said “America deserved 9/11.”

El-Sayed has faced criticism for his own rhetoric. He repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the country. Earlier this year, he said “hurt people hurt people” after an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area. The attacker had lost four relatives in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the week earlier. El-Sayed later apologized, saying he was not trying to justify what happened. “To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry,” he said. “That was not my intention.”

Rogers presses loyalty claims; El-Sayed answers

Republican Mike Rogers and El-Sayed are competing for retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’s open Senate seat. The Michigan contest is among a handful of races that could determine control of the chamber. During their second and final general election campaign debate, Rogers questioned El-Sayed’s loyalty to the United States. “Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” Rogers asked. El-Sayed called the question “shameful” and said, “I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray.”

Before Trump’s appearance Sunday, Rogers repeated his allegations linking El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood. “The Muslim Brotherhood celebrated exactly one victory in the United States in the primary this year,” Rogers said on stage. “Abdul El-Sayed’s.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at the Grand Rapids rally, said Trump and his allies were using Islamophobia because they had “nothing to say” about the issues most important to working people, such as health care, housing and income inequality. “All they can do is foment hatred and divisiveness,” Sanders said.

Trump brings turnout message amid economic pressure

The rally came as Republicans were on the defensive over inflation, soaring fuel prices and the Iran war. Trump sought turnout by claiming that El-Sayed and other Democrats were existential threats to America rather than electoral rivals. Republicans were spending millions and might still not win districts drawn to favor them. Polls are a snapshot during the midterm elections.

Trump did not announce a new Michigan investment during the Port Huron speech, despite routinely announcing factory investments at campaign rallies. Michigan is a state defined by the auto industry. Trump instead repeated investments already being made by domestic automakers. Those automakers could see their finances slump if he expands his trade war with Canada, which has been an essential partner for the U.S. automotive sector.

Minaj urges a Republican vote at Port Huron

Rapper Nicki Minaj appeared on stage and urged people to get out and vote for the state’s Republican ticket. Her appearance followed a moment when Trump, after praising the body of Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican in a close election contest, commented on Minaj’s posterior. Trump signaled for Minaj to stand for the crowd, and she did, before he said, “I hope Nicki wasn’t insulted, but we love Nicki. She’s been with us for a long time.”