The U.S. midterm elections will be held on November 3 (Tuesday) local time. The results will determine which party can control Congress during the remainder of Trump's presidential term. But this vote could also make history for other reasons. In Michigan, polls show Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is on track to become the first Muslim U.S. senator.
Syed, a doctor who has never held elected office, finds himself in one of the most politically polarizing races in the country. As the campaign enters its final stages, the race is becoming more intense. Haley Stevens, his party opponent whom he narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary, publicly expressed support for Republican candidate Mike Rogers.
Said told reporters in response to the incident on November 1: "There are 10 million people in this state, and they deserve better treatment from the government. I am more concerned about the other 9,999,998 people among them, not the two people you have been talking about."
Syed was born in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit, in 1984. His parents divorced when he was three, and he was raised by his father and stepmother, Jacqueline Johnson. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and Columbia University, specializing in epidemiology.
In 2015, he became the focus of national news when he was appointed executive director of the Detroit Health Department. Three years later, he ran for Michigan governor, finishing second in the Democratic primary but losing to Gretchen Whitmer by more than 20 percentage points. Whitmer was later elected governor twice.
Whitmer endorsed Stevens in the Democratic primary for the 2026 Senate election but has publicly supported Syed's campaign since he won the nomination.
Said has the support of progressive politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, more moderate Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, are also campaigning for him, because winning Michigan is crucial to the Democrats' plan to seize control of the Senate.
Said ran on a left-wing platform. In addition to advocating taxing billionaires to fund universal health care, Saied criticized the United States for providing military aid to Israel, which was also a core issue of his campaign.
On October 29, Saied told supporters at a campaign rally: "It shouldn't be so difficult to pay taxes, and we should be able to be sure that the taxes will be used for ourselves and our children, rather than bombing people and their children elsewhere."
He also called Israel's military operation in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, a genocide. Israel strongly denies the accusation. Said also accused Israel of imposing apartheid in the occupied West Bank.
Said's opposition to military aid was not limited to Israel. The 42-year-old candidate has often said he wants U.S. tax dollars "to be used to build schools and create opportunity, not be sent overseas to bomb anybody."
He said on October 28: "I believe that we should not fund foreign armies in general. This includes Israel, but also Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates."
Still, U.S. President Donald Trump accused the son of Egyptian immigrants of "siding with terrorists."
Vice President J.D. Vance said at Rogers' campaign rally on October 15: "You deserve better than this scumbag. He should shut up and be a little grateful to this country that gave him everything."
Rogers, while distancing himself from Trump's comments, also accused Saied's campaign of accepting money from donors with ties to radical and extremist groups.
Republicans also accuse Saied of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's largest and oldest Islamist organization and was briefly in power after the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprisings.
Said denies any ties to the group, but opponents point out that he signed an open letter in 2012 urging then-Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to "purge the media and police services as soon as possible."
Said has also been criticized for his relationship with left-wing commentator Hasan Piker. Peake once said that the United States "deserved" the September 11 attacks.
In addition, Syed apologized to the Michigan Jewish community in August last year for his comments about the motivations of an Arab-American who violently attacked a synagogue in Detroit.
News website Jewish Insider estimates that Syed’s candidacy has divided Jewish voters in Michigan. This group of voters has historically tended to support Democrats. The website quoted community leaders predicting that some votes would shift to the Republican candidate.
However, Saied emphasized during the campaign that his allegiance was to the U.S. Constitution and called on voters to make judgments based on his policies rather than his personal background.
