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Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is taking his campaign into Detroit and Wayne County as the final stretch of the Michigan Senate race intensifies, with the controversy surrounding Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and allegations about connections to the Muslim Brotherhood remaining the biggest flashpoint of the contest.
Rogers and his allies, including President Donald Trump, have repeatedly raised the issue in the closing days of the campaign. Trump has branded El-Sayed a "jihadist," while Rogers has pointed to El-Sayed's criticism of Israel's offensive in Gaza and asserted that he has longstanding family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world's oldest and most influential Islamist groups.
El-Sayed has denied having any ties to the organisation and has publicly said he disavows it. Fact-checkers have found no evidence that El-Sayed personally pledged support to the Muslim Brotherhood, and some of the claims about his mother raised by Rogers and his allies have been challenged by fact-checkers, who say the evidence does not support the strongest versions of those allegations.
Political strategists say the approach is aimed at dissuading Jewish and Black voters in the Detroit area who backed El-Sayed's primary opponent, Haley Stevens, from getting behind the Democratic nominee. "It gives them even more reason to pause and not vote for El-Sayed," Republican political consultant Dennis Darnoi said, adding that if Democratic voters in the state's biggest population area do not cast ballots for El-Sayed, "that is a net benefit to Mike Rogers' campaign."
El-Sayed and Rogers are vying for the seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters in a race that could determine whether Democrats gain the four Senate seats needed to take control of the chamber in the November 3 election. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, which would be harder to overturn if El-Sayed loses. The Democrat has built a small lead in opinion polls by focusing his campaign on affordability, healthcare and getting money out of politics.
With Detroit and Wayne County playing an important role in Michigan politics, Rogers' decision to campaign there puts the spotlight on whether the issues dominating this race will resonate with voters in one of the state's most politically significant areas — and on what issues Michigan voters will focus most as Election Day approaches.