Democrat Abdul El-Sayedwon Michigan's US Senate race over former Republican lawmaker Mike Rogers, US networks said early Wednesday, making him the first Muslim elected to the upper chamber of Congress. "Michigan, we did it!" El-Sayed said in a speech attended by hundreds of supporters who screamed and hugged each other at his election headquarters in Detroit. "I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan." El-Sayed won despite a last-minute curve ball in his campaign when congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, came out in support of Rogers at the 11th hour.
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Cover image: Democrat Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate race, will become first Muslim senator © France 24 The Michigan medical administrator rallied voters on leftist campaign promises, including universal health care, to win a key US Senate seat for Democrats, taking over from the retiring Gary Peters. El-Sayed held a nearly six-point lead on Rogers when networks called the race. "We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
And I'm so proud of all the work. It was boots on the ground. We were always out, but we were never outworked," said party-goer entrepreneur Trunetta Roach, 75, who attended El-Sayed's victory party in downtown Detroit wearing US flag-design diamante high-heels.
I was concerned about them. They didn't seem very engaged, but I was wrong. They showed up." Republicans ran a scorched-earth campaign to paint Democrats as communists and branded El-Sayed a terrorist who would endanger Americans.
But the straight-talking 42-year-old El-Sayed pledged to help cash-strapped voters navigate America's fractured, for-profit health care system. "You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill," he told Michiganders on the eve of the vote, vowing to upend America's divisive multi-billion-dollar for-profit medical system. During the race, El-Sayed drew huge campaign crowds across the state, even in deeply conservative Republican areas.
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