Michigan Senate Race: Rogers Repeats Muslim Brotherhood Claim Against El-Sayed Before Midterms

Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are in a tight race for an open Michigan U.S. Senate seat less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms. At Wednesday's debate, Rogers repeated, without evidence, his claim that El-Sayed has Muslim Brotherhood ties. El-Sayed has repeatedly denied it. Rogers, a former congressman backed by President Donald Trump, and allies including Trump have escalated that line of attack. El-Sayed, a former public health official, campaigns on Medicare for All, ending military aid to Israel and removing corporate money from politics. He would be the first Muslim in the Senate. In a Thursday Mid-Michigan Now interview, he urged a war powers resolution and an end to unconditional funding of foreign militaries. Democrats need to flip four Republican seats and hold three, including Michigan, to win the Senate.

Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing; alternative and right-leaning outlets had. Alternative outlets focus on the attacks: Reuters on Republican efforts to exploit Democratic divisions, Democracy Now! on Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo calling a win a rejection of Islamophobia. Right-leaning outlets focus on El-Sayed's foreign policy statements and on whether Islam informs his politics.