Abdul El-Sayed was elected to the U.S. Senate in Michigan, becoming the first Muslim to hold the office, according to the report. (Foto: Instagram)
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was elected to the Senate in Michigan, making him the first Muslim in U.S. history to hold the office, according to the report. His campaign drew repeated xenophobic attacks from President Donald Trump.
El-Sayed defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in a contest described by U.S. media as one of the closest races in the election. In the final days of the campaign, El-Sayed appeared alongside former President Barack Obama, gaining prominence in Democratic campaign events.
After the result, El-Sayed celebrated on social media: “Michigan, we did what they said could not be done. We won. Together. Now the real work begins.” He is a physician and the son of Egyptian immigrants.
Although he sought to avoid religious issues, El-Sayed publicly criticized U.S. support for Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. Those positions prompted Haley Stevens, a fellow Democrat who had lost in the primary, to endorse Rogers. “I don’t belong on Abdul’s campaign,” Stevens said in a video posted on social media.
Trump also repeatedly attacked El-Sayed during the race. “He’s a little fraud, and everything about him is fake. He’s a liar. He talks about all these things as if he’s a moderate, but he’s not. He’s a jihadist. A sick, violent jihadist, and he has no place in our government,” Trump said in one remark about the senator-elect.
