Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed spent roughly an hour fielding pointed questions on a Detroit debate stage Tuesday night after his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, declined to show up.
FOX 2 said both campaigns were invited to the debate on Aug. 5, the day after Michigan’s primary. El-Sayed accepted quickly, but Rogers did not formally withdraw until the morning of the event, citing objections to moderator Roop Raj, whom he accused of bias. With Rogers absent, El-Sayed answered questions from Raj, television viewers and members of the studio audience by himself.
Piker Comments
Raj asked El-Sayed whether he could “completely, 100%” disavow offensive remarks made by streamer Hasan Piker, a subject El-Sayed had sidestepped two days earlier on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“Absolutely,” El-Sayed said this time, adding: “When Hasan made these comments about Jewish Americans and Jewish Michiganders, I disavowed them entirely.”
Pressed further, El-Sayed said there were “many, many things” Piker has said that he disagrees with, specifically citing the streamer’s comments about 9/11 and Jewish Americans. He nonetheless defended his own decision to engage with Piker, saying that talking with someone is not the same as endorsing everything that person believes, and that he wanted to offer Piker’s large following “a pathway back into our politics.”
Israel Question
Asked directly whether the United States should continue recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, El-Sayed did not answer yes or no. Instead he said he believes “in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike.”
“People ask this question about the right of the state that actually exists to exist, but I never get asked about the right of the state that does not exist to exist,” El-Sayed said. “I don’t get asked about whether or not the state that exists has a right to use our tax dollars to do heinous things. I don’t get asked about whether or not the kids in Detroit have a right to their tax dollars, so I just think the premise of the question is built around trying to ask people to agree to the current status quo that we have seen become a deeply unstable, deeply violent equilibrium.”
CAIR Donations and ‘Culture War’ Accusation
El-Sayed did not directly answer whether he would return campaign contributions tied to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Fox News Digital has previously reported that his campaign received more than $115,000 from at least 41 individuals who worked for, previously worked for, or held leadership roles with CAIR. The group has faced longstanding controversy over alleged Hamas ties, was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case, and has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and formally labeled as such in Florida and Texas.
El-Sayed described CAIR as a civil rights organization and accused Rogers of trying to make the race “about the color of my skin or how I pray,” framing his opponent’s approach as an attempt to turn the contest into a “culture war” centered on his ethnicity and Muslim faith.
El-Sayed also criticized Rogers over campaign funding, accusing him of being beholden to corporations, and questioned Rogers’ attendance at fundraisers held by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“I believe in an America that is big enough for all of us: Mike Rogers, Donald Trump, JD Vance,” El-Sayed said. “They believe that some people are more American than others. They think that if you pray a different way, your family comes from a different place, that somehow there’s an asterisk on your American identity.”
Raj responded by noting that “JD Vance is the father of the children to an Indian-American” and that “the second lady is an Indian woman who came to this country.” El-Sayed replied, “I think there is diversity amongst that party.”
Socialist Ties
El-Sayed pushed back when asked about his relationship with the Democratic Socialists of America. “I’m not a part of the organization,” he said, going on to argue that corporate consolidation, not government regulation, poses the greater threat to free markets. “We don’t live in capitalism. We live in corporatism,” he said. “You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that people deserve health care. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that we need good roads.”
El-Sayed has repeatedly rejected the socialist label and describes himself as a capitalist. DSA did not endorse his Senate campaign, though prominent democratic socialists have supported or been affiliated with his candidacy. He has told CBS News he was not part of DSA but believes the group’s supporters should be welcomed into the Democratic Party’s coalition.
Fox News Digital has previously reported that El-Sayed spoke at six events held by DSA chapters between 2017 and 2020, including a 2019 fundraiser where he served as keynote speaker. Socialist organizers have described him as a “longtime friend of Detroit DSA,” while El-Sayed told the Wall Street Journal in July that he was “not technically or practically DSA.”
The candidates are scheduled to meet again Oct. 8 at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids and Oct. 21 at WXYZ in Detroit ahead of the November general election.
