Newly crowned Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed sought to reassure Michigan’s Jews on Wednesday, pledging that their safety would be as important to him as the safety of his own children after a primary campaign dominated by divisions over Israel.
The Associated Press called the contentious primary on Wednesday morning, with el Sayed winning 48.5% of the vote to Rep. Haley Stevens’s (D-MI) 47.5%.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the race was called, el Sayed emphasized that combating antisemitism would remain a priority if elected.
“I want all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith … to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety, is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters,” el Sayed said. “If there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it is: What would we build if we treated all of our kids like they were all of our kids?”
He added that he stands “in solidarity with my Jewish sisters and brothers” and argued that condemning antisemitism and acknowledging the suffering of others are not mutually exclusive.
“We can condemn antisemitism, and at the same time, we can be talking about how we bring people together, and we can be talking about everybody’s pain,” he said.
El Sayed also challenged Trump-backed Republican nominee Mike Rogers to five debates leading up to the November general election while accusing him of selling out to President Donald Trump.
Rogers “swore up and down he could never support Donald Trump until, of course, he was licking Donald Trump’s boots,” el Sayed said. “So now he carries the burden of both of those things. Is he MAGA? Is he neocon? Nah, man, he’s just a corporate sellout.”
Israel and antisemitism became defining issues in the Democratic primary. An outspoken progressive, el Sayed has faced Republican attacks over his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, which he has described as a genocide. Stevens, meanwhile, was the Democratic establishment candidate and received backing from pro-Israel groups.
Shortly after the AP called the race, Trump attacked el Sayed on Truth Social.
“El-Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race with the Socialist,” Trump wrote.
Despite his effort to reassure Jewish voters, el Sayed did not back away from his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his support for conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel.
“I believe that we cannot continue to do unconditional foreign military aid,” el Sayed said Wednesday on MS Now’s Morning Joe. “I believe that we have to follow our own laws, the Leahy laws, where we don’t sell weaponry to countries that have engaged in human rights abuses.”
El Sayed argued that his position would apply universally, saying he would take the same approach if the country in question were Egypt, where his parents emigrated from, rather than Israel. He also accused Netanyahu of being “a big reason why they’ve gotten so aggressive and, frankly, so bloodthirsty under his reign.”
ABDUL EL SAYED DEFEATS HALEY STEVENS IN MICHIGAN SENATE PRIMARY
Despite previously backing Stevens, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) swiftly endorsed el Sayed after the race was called.
“Michigan voters already rejected Rogers after he walked through Washington’s revolving door to enrich himself,” Schumer said in a joint statement with Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chairwoman Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). “They’ll reject him again in November and send Abdul El-Sayed to the United States Senate.”