# El-Sayed's Michigan Senate bid News · Heat 10.0 / 10 · 12 shows · 3h 2m airtime Abdul El-Sayed began his Michigan Senate campaign against Republican Mike Rogers on October 20, after Democratic primary voters chose him over establishment-backed incumbent Haley Stevens. Arab American voters interviewed in Michigan back El-Sayed citing Gaza as their red line, while lifelong Democrat Jordan Acker and Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus board member Zach Nessel are undecided; Jewish voter David Freund backs him, with Senator Alyssa Slotkin making his case. Stevens would not say on CNN whether she still backs El-Sayed, and said her fiance is voting for Rogers; her fiance, Democratic mega-donor Jason Turkish, has since endorsed Rogers. Rogers' 2012 Reuters comments on moderate Muslim Brotherhood members and his vote to fund Egypt's Morsi government have surfaced, and he would not… Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/el_sayeds_michigan_senate_bid_15879769 ## Segments - [The Breakfast Club](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebreakfastclub), 2026-10-20, 4:20 to 6:12: **Frames Michigan as the populist test**. Cenk Uygur frames El-Sayed's Michigan Senate race as the decisive test of whether progressive populists can win general elections, citing a seven-point lead, 2,000 media hit pieces and Democrats who attacked their own nominee after the primary. New angle: Cenk Uygur says El-Sayed leads by seven points despite 2,000 media hit pieces and post-primary attacks from a dozen Democrats. - [The Breakfast Club](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebreakfastclub), 2026-10-20, 32:27 to 35:27: **Extends the pitch into media double standards**. Extends the El-Sayed pitch into media double standards: Uygur says he declared himself an unofficial surrogate because surrogates get attacked, and that Rogers' Israeli lobby money and a staffer tied to a Nazi chant have drawn no reporter questions. New angle: No reporter has asked Mike Rogers to denounce Netanyahu or AIPAC despite his Israeli lobby money. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-20, 53:26 to 1:29:13: **Digs into the family orbit and old op-ed**. Long segment on El-Sayed's family orbit: the sister-in-law's terror watch-list lawsuit and removal, the half-sister's Muslim Brotherhood tweets, and a 15-year-old Huffington Post op-ed on the Brotherhood's rise in Egypt. Argues the GOP's Brotherhood line may not move younger Republicans who care about Israel. New angle: El-Sayed wrote a Huffington Post op-ed downplaying the danger of the Muslim Brotherhood's rise in Egypt. - [The Bulwark Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebulwarkdaily), 2026-10-21, 10:45 to 14:46: **Notes Fox News's disproportionate attacks on El-Sayed**. Turns to El-Sayed's general-election footing after the primary: strong in college towns and wealthy suburbs, weak in manufacturing counties and Macomb. Murphy's advice is to drop the cocky persona and run on Trump and the economy; Miller notes Fox News airs Islamophobic attacks on El-Sayed about three times more than on all other Senate candidates combined. New angle: Fox News discusses El-Sayed with Islamophobic undertones about three times more than all other Senate candidates combined. - [The Fox News Rundown](https://boilpoints.com/u/thefoxnewsrundown), 2026-10-24, 4:51 to 7:19: **Frames Michigan's open seat as competitive**. Walks through why Michigan's open seat is competitive: Peters's retirement, the state's purple drift, Canada trade and tariffs, and the argument that Democrats would have had a layup with Haley Stevens instead of progressive El-Sayed. Background and framing, no new development. - [Global News Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/globalnewspodcast), 2026-10-25, 16:27 to 19:42: **Interviews Arab American voters backing him**. Interviews Arab American voters in Michigan who say they will vote for El-Sayed, framing his candidacy as the payoff of the 2024 Gaza protest movement. Adds a first-hand account of a bloc the card had not heard from. New angle: Arab American voters interviewed in Michigan say they intend to vote for El-Sayed, citing Gaza as their red line. - [Global News Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/globalnewspodcast), 2026-10-25, 20:47 to 25:01: **Interviews a regent undecided after 20 years**. Interviews Jordan Acker, a University of Michigan regent who took a 2004 Arab-Israeli conflict class with El-Sayed. Acker recounts anti-Semitic attacks on his office and home in 2024 and says he is undecided on voting for El-Sayed, doubting he respects Jewish peoplehood. New angle: Lifelong Democrat Jordan Acker, who has known El-Sayed for over 20 years, says he is undecided on voting for him. - [Global News Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/globalnewspodcast), 2026-10-25, 28:04 to 30:39: **Adds a second undecided Jewish Democrat**. Adds a second undecided Jewish Democrat to the Michigan Senate story: Zach Nessel, son of the state attorney general and a board member of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus, says he may not vote for the Democrat and feels less welcome in the party. New angle: Zach Nessel, on the board of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus, says he is not sure he will vote for the Democrat this cycle. - [Global News Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/globalnewspodcast), 2026-10-25, 31:05 to 34:54: **Widens the Michigan electorate beyond earlier voters**. Widens the Michigan electorate beyond the Arab American and undecided Jewish Democrats already on the record: a Jewish voter backs El-Sayed over Gaza, and Senator Alyssa Slotkin is out making his case. Closes on the 2028 primaries as the test of whether the split holds. New angle: Jewish voter David Freund backs El-Sayed over Gaza, and Senator Alyssa Slotkin is making his case. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-26, 26:41 to 28:35: **Plays Stevens declining to back El-Sayed**. Plays the Sunday-show clip of Haley Stevens declining to say she still backs El-Sayed, noting she names Jocelyn Benson and Hakeem Jeffries but not El-Sayed. A new on-the-record non-endorsement from a Democrat El-Sayed beat in the primary. New angle: Haley Stevens, asked on CNN if she still backs El-Sayed, would not say so and never named him. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-26, 28:35 to 31:15: **Argues Stevens is walking back her endorsement**. Hasan's reaction to the Haley Stevens clip: he argues she had already endorsed El-Sayed and is walking it back less than ten days out, on the day Obama campaigned in Michigan, and calls her refusal to say his name hypocritical given Trump's rhetoric. Reaction, not new reporting. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-26, 34:34 to 38:11: **Adds Rogers's 2012 Brotherhood comment**. Hasan argues the media gives Rogers a pass while scrutinizing El-Sayed, and puts on the record two Rogers facts a Detroit paper and Meet the Press surfaced: his 2012 Reuters comment on moderate Muslim Brotherhood members and his vote to fund the Morsi government. Also notes Neera Tanden has said nothing about Stevens declining to endorse. New angle: Rogers told Reuters in 2012 there are moderate Muslim Brotherhood members the U.S. can work with, and voted to fund Egypt's Morsi government. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-26, 38:23 to 39:56: **Plays Rogers deflecting the MAGA question**. Plays the Welker clip in which Rogers, asked whether he is a MAGA Republican and whether a vote for him is a vote for Trump's agenda, calls the questioning disgusting, deflects to the former Democratic Party chairman, and pleads earpiece trouble. Adds the exchange itself to the Michigan Senate file. New angle: Rogers refused to say whether he is a MAGA Republican and claimed earpiece trouble when asked if a vote for him backs Trump's agenda. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-26, 39:56 to 42:13: **Argues Rogers got a media pass**. Hasan's closing argument on the Michigan race: Rogers got a media pass for months while a Twitch streamer drew disproportionate scrutiny, and Trump's attacks on El-Sayed are racist. Retells the Rogers interview and the Trump quotes already on the record. - [Global News Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/globalnewspodcast), 2026-10-26, 14:01 to 18:04: **Reports from Detroit on the tightening race**. Correspondent report from Detroit on the tightening Michigan Senate race: the primary upset, Trump's jihadist attack, the debate exchange with Rogers, and Jewish Democrats refusing to vote for him. Adds a first-hand voter, Mimi Price Militech, and a figure on primary spending against El-Sayed. New angle: More money was spent against El-Sayed in the primary than against any candidate in any primary in history. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-27, 28:15 to 32:27: **Walks the Brotherhood attack chronology**. Walks through the chronology behind the Brotherhood attacks: Mubarak's fall, Morsi's 2012 election and Gaza ceasefire, the coup, and the open letter El-Sayed signed. Frames both El-Sayed's letter and Rogers' 2012 comments as reasonable for their time and the whole line of attack as guilt by association. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-27, 32:25 to 33:47: **Plays Rogers dodging the MAGA question**. Plays the Meet the Press clip of Rogers dodging whether he is a MAGA Republican and whether a vote for him backs Trump's agenda, then mocks the earpiece excuse. Stays inside the interview already on the record. - [Pod Save America](https://boilpoints.com/u/podsaveamerica), 2026-10-27, 40:10 to 44:04: **Plays Stevens declining to name El-Sayed**. Plays the CNN clip of Haley Stevens declining to name El-Sayed and puzzles over the shift in tone from her post-primary endorsement. Stays inside the Stevens story already on the record, adding only the hosts' read of why it hurts him. - [What Next](https://boilpoints.com/u/whatnext), 2026-10-28, 23:03 to 25:30: **Describes a PAC ad and stresses its source**. Describes a new ad from Cenk Uygur's PAC in the Michigan Senate race that uses grocery prices and an anti-Semitic trope about sending money to Israel, and stresses it is not from El-Sayed's campaign. New angle: Cenk Uygur's PAC is airing a Michigan ad telling voters to save money instead of sending it to Israel. - [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-28, 0:16 to 2:14: **Frames the run as a purple-state electability test**. Opens at a Grand Rapids meet-and-greet and frames El-Sayed's Senate run as a test of whether a very progressive candidate can win a purple state, with both party wings waiting on the result. New angle: El-Sayed's Senate run is framed as the midterms' most consequential test of progressive electability in a purple state. - [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-28, 3:19 to 5:08: **Adds a Wall Street Journal poll on progressive policies**. Sets up the El-Sayed race with the broader progressive movement's history and a new Wall Street Journal poll: Medicare for All and millionaire taxes draw majority support, while the DSA is viewed favorably by only 24%. Notes El-Sayed is not a DSA member. New angle: A Wall Street Journal poll found 59% back Medicare for All and 24% view the DSA favorably. - [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-28, 5:08 to 9:16: **Profiles the candidate and adds the primary result**. Profiles El-Sayed's Detroit upbringing, his Oxford and Columbia degrees and his local health department record, and adds the primary result: Democratic voters picked him over establishment-backed incumbent Haley Stevens. Frames the general election against Mike Rogers as a tough sell in a swing state. New angle: Democratic primary voters chose El-Sayed over establishment-backed incumbent Haley Stevens. - [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-28, 9:16 to 11:20: **Takes the campaign to a gas station near Ithaca**. Takes the El-Sayed campaign outside the cities to a gas station near Ithaca, where a three-time Trump voter says he will vote for neither El-Sayed nor Rogers, calling El-Sayed too far left. Voter color on the electability question the episode already framed. - [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-28, 12:04 to 14:52: **Gets a voter on the record in Grand Rapids**. Follows El-Sayed to a Grand Rapids bar and gets a voter on the record: J.D. Chapman Jr. says the candidate skirted his question on why Black voters should trust Democrats and is considering sitting out the Senate race entirely. New angle: J.D. Chapman Jr. says El-Sayed skirted his question and he may not vote in the Senate race at all. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-28, 1:32:01 to 1:36:59: **Predicts Michigan's closing week for El-Sayed**. Kelly and Halperin talk through the closing week in Michigan: the Muslim Brotherhood attacks aren't landing, Rogers is a weak closer, and El-Sayed's Israel answer is helping with independents. Analysis and prediction, no new reporting. - [The Dan Bongino Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thedanbonginoshow), 2026-10-29, 47:24 to 50:47: **Plays the clip of Stevens on her fiance**. Plays the CNN interview with Haley Stevens in full and pulls out a line the earlier coverage did not have: her fiance is voting for Mike Rogers. Bongino reads the clip as a ready-made Rogers ad and stays inside the electability frame. New angle: Haley Stevens said on CNN that her fiance is voting for Mike Rogers. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-29, 20:38 to 23:36: **Plays the Stevens clip and asks about it**. Plays the CNN clip in which Stevens calls her household divided, names El-Sayed and says she wants him to win, then asks him about it. El-Sayed thanks her for her early general-election support and says he will campaign with Slotkin, who Stevens is not campaigning with. New angle: El-Sayed says he will campaign with Alyssa Slotkin; Stevens says she is not campaigning with him down the stretch. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-29, 23:32 to 30:15: **Puts immigration and policing answers on record**. Puts El-Sayed on the record on immigration, defund the police and puberty blockers: he says he would have differed with Biden on border security, calls defund a dumb word, and defends covering puberty blockers under Medicare for All while naming Democratic colleagues who disagree. New angle: El-Sayed says he would have differed with the Biden administration on border security and calls 'defund the police' a dumb word. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-29, 31:32 to 34:45: **Lays out the campaign's AI and data center plan**. Pulls El-Sayed's own platform out of the interview: AI boards half democratically appointed, a government stake in AI value, an FDA-style agency inside the labs, and a state and local data center moratorium until federal rules pass. First time the campaign's tech and utility agenda is on the record. New angle: El-Sayed proposes a state and local data center moratorium until federal legislation passes. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-29, 34:45 to 40:46: **Presses on the senior property tax freeze**. Pushes El-Sayed on his debate promise to freeze property taxes for seniors, arguing it inflates housing costs for younger buyers. El-Sayed defends it as keeping fixed-income retirees in paid-off homes and blames federal disinvestment in municipalities for property tax growth. New angle: El-Sayed said during a debate that seniors should have their property taxes frozen. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-29, 43:16 to 44:48: **Asks about a nationwide betting ban**. Closing minutes of the El-Sayed interview: asked whether he would outlaw sports betting nationwide, he says he is not for bans but for sharply curtailing marketing and advertising and protecting problem gamblers, then plugs his site and urges Michigan turnout by November 3. New angle: El-Sayed opposes a nationwide sports betting ban but backs sharply curtailing its marketing and advertising. - [The Bulwark Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebulwarkdaily), 2026-10-29, 1:24 to 12:04: **Adds the Turkish endorsement and Rogers' bigotry**. Tim Miller's opening rant on the Turkish endorsement: he calls it an organized attempt to influence the race on Rogers' behalf, with Stevens on board, and argues Rogers is running an overtly bigoted campaign. Reaction and framing, but it puts the endorsement itself on the record. New angle: Jason Turkish, Haley Stevens' fiance and a Democratic mega-donor, endorsed Mike Rogers, saying he put country before party. - [The Bulwark Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebulwarkdaily), 2026-10-29, 1:03:08 to 1:06:31: **Calls Rogers' campaign among the most bigoted**. French, who says El-Sayed is the Democrat he would agree with least, calls Rogers' campaign one of the most bigoted he has seen and argues Trump's rhetoric has pushed anti-Muslim bigotry past the days after 9-11. Opinion and framing, with RFK's 'Arabs are stupid' line already on the record. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-29, 9:14 to 10:48: **Lays out the closing pitch on Medicare and courts**. Lays out El-Sayed's closing argument - Medicare for All, costs, corruption, corporate money - and flags the new Supreme Court pitch: Trump has three appointments and could get two more. Notes polling shows only base Democrats are moved by the Court. New angle: El-Sayed's closing pitch warns Trump could add two more Supreme Court seats, making five. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-29, 10:48 to 12:46: **Weighs whether El-Sayed rebuilt the coalition**. Mara Liasson weighs whether El-Sayed has reassembled the Democratic coalition after the late primary, saying Black and Jewish voters are not behind him in the numbers a traditional race needs and that he trails other statewide Democrats. Notes Stevens was criticizing him on television less than a week out. New angle: El-Sayed is running behind other statewide Democratic candidates, with Black and Jewish voters short of the numbers he needs. - [The NPR Politics Podcast](https://boilpoints.com/u/thenprpoliticspodcast), 2026-10-29, 12:46 to 14:43: **Sorts hesitant Michigan voters into two camps**. Sorts hesitant Michigan voters into two buckets: Jewish voters citing El-Sayed's comments after the Temple preschool truck attack and his Piker campaigning, and voters moved by anti-Muslim rhetoric. Adds the governor-race comparison, with Benson far ahead of John James while El-Sayed stays tight. New angle: Polls show Jocelyn Benson far ahead of John James while El-Sayed remains in a tight race. - [The Rest Is Politics: US](https://boilpoints.com/u/therestispoliticsus), 2026-10-30, 14:35 to 17:30: **Recaps the Michigan Senate race polling**. Answers a listener question on polling accuracy, then folds in the Michigan race: Stevens is refusing to campaign with El-Sayed and her fiance has publicly backed Rogers. A brief recap that stays inside the coverage already on the record. - [The Dan Bongino Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thedanbonginoshow), 2026-10-30, 27:17 to 29:50: **Adds a claim about El-Sayed's father's charity board**. Pushes the Michigan Senate race through a New York Post article, urging swing voters to Rogers and adding a claim about El-Sayed's father sitting on the board of an Islamic charity accused of funneling cash to Saddam Hussein. New angle: El-Sayed's father sits on the board of an Islamic charity accused of funneling cash to Saddam Hussein. - [Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar](https://boilpoints.com/u/breakingpointswithkrystalandsaagar), 2026-10-30, 28:07 to 45:17: **Brings a local reporter for a ground-level read**. Brings on a Michigan Chronicle reporter for a long ground-level read on the Senate race: Rogers dodging hostile press and a local Fox debate, the Black-voter defection narrative, Pelosi's criticism of El-Sayed on Israel, and the news that Stevens and El-Sayed will appear together again. New angle: Haley Stevens and El-Sayed are set to appear together again, per the Associated Press; they have appeared together once. - [The Megyn Kelly Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/themegynkellyshow), 2026-10-30, 29:46 to 33:50: **Reads Stevens' endorsement and church service plan**. Reads Haley Stevens' statement that she will vote for El-Sayed and join him and Jim Clyburn at a Detroit church service on Sunday, on the expectation he will disavow the Rebellion PAC ad the ADL called anti-Semitic. New angle: Stevens says she will join El-Sayed and Jim Clyburn at a Detroit church service on Sunday. - [The Bulwark Daily](https://boilpoints.com/u/thebulwarkdaily), 2026-10-30, 34:47 to 39:49: **Reads Stevens's statement as a backhanded endorsement**. Picks up the Sunday event announcement and the statement that followed it: Stevens put out a long statement criticizing El-Sayed over a video he did not appropriately condemn, after his campaign had already put out a statement against it. Miller reads the sequence as an endorsement with a list of reasons not to. New angle: After announcing the Sunday event, Stevens released a long statement criticizing El-Sayed over a video his campaign had already condemned.