Donald Trump called Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist with no evidence. A pro-Israel super PAC spent $20.1 million to beat him in the primary. Michigan elected him anyway. El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers and will become the nation's first Muslim senator, AP reported via PBS NewsHour on Nov. 4, after a CBS News projection early that morning. The official Michigan canvass and the final margin are not yet reported here.
The smear
At a Port Huron rally for Rogers, Trump called El-Sayed a "jihadist" and said he would "be unable to get a seat on an airplane," Politico reported Oct. 29. Trump also told Michigan to "stand up and fight, just like Todd Beamer did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol," per CBS News. Ted Cruz called him a "jihadist leprechaun" and said, "If I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result." AP reported Trump and other Republicans sought to link El-Sayed to terrorist organizations "despite no evidence of such ties."
The money
Federal Election Commission records show United Democracy Project, the super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, reported $20,140,908.74 in independent expenditures opposing El-Sayed in the 2026 primary, in 25 itemized expenditures from June 30 to Aug. 3, 2026: media production and placement, direct mail and get-out-the-vote phone calls. AP put AIPAC's total against him at nearly $30 million, "its largest investment in a single race," in a primary that "drew nearly $60 million in outside spending."
In the general election, the GOP super PAC Senate Leadership Fund ran ads alleging El-Sayed gets "dirty money" from an "Islamic extremist group" that is "tied to Hamas," Politico reported. Politico notes CAIR is not designated a terrorist group by the U.S. government. The committee listed at the FEC as SLF PAC, C00571703, reported $248,237,805.57 in independent expenditures across all races from Jan. 1, 2025 to Oct. 14, 2026, and $88,421,942.23 cash on hand at the end of that period. Its spending against El-Sayed specifically is not yet itemized in the FEC's processed data.
The backlash
Hassan Nehme, a former vice chair of the Michigan Republican Party, told Politico: "We did all this work for them to turn around and use us as enemies, to be able just to win an election." Rogers, who lost his 2024 Senate bid to Elissa Slotkin, "struggled to balance his loyalty to President Donald Trump with concerns over rising prices tied to the war in Iran and economic turmoil from the president's tariffs," AP reported. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed's primary rival, endorsed Rogers on Nov. 1. Democrats won both chambers of Congress the same night, AP reported, so one race cannot show the smear failed on its own.
El-Sayed's victory speech named what the fear campaign skipped: "They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know my name and my faith are not why you can't afford your gas."
They sold Michigan fear, and Michigan was shopping for gas.