The Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who was successful in the Senate election in Michigan, is immediately on a collision course with US President Trump and his deputy J.D. in his victory speech. Vance gone. Trump's Republicans had portrayed the left-wing politician as a radical "communist" and intentionally mispronounced his name. “Donald, listen, I know you had problems with my name,” El-Sayed said. Once Vance swore him in in January, “you can just call me senator.”
El-Sayed, 42, won the race for a Senate seat against Republican candidate Mike Rogers. He will be the first Muslim in the US Senate. El-Sayed was criticized, among other things, for his reaction to the attack on a synagogue in Michigan in March. At the time he said: “Hurt people hurt people.” He later apologized.
“We have shown that in a battle between big money and the many people, the many can really win,” El-Sayed said. To all the parents who would have struggled to explain why the president would openly mock someone because of their name or the way they prayed, he shouted: "Let them know tomorrow that the bad guys have lost." El-Sayed addressed the vice president with the Arabic word “Habibi” (roughly: “My dear”). “There is such a delicious irony in the fact that you are constitutionally obliged to swear me in in January,” El-Sayed said.
US President Trump wants to respect the Democrats' emerging landslide victory in the general elections. “I am absolutely prepared to accept these results,” he told the New York Times. “We will work with the Democrats and, you know, look forward to working with them,” Trump said.
At the same time, he made Fox News partly responsible for the bitter defeat of the Republicans. The station bears responsibility because it constantly focuses on Democrats “and worse,” he said on his Truth Social platform.
The outcome of the vote on a wealth tax for billionaires in California is still open. Almost six million votes have not yet been counted. The proposal imposes a one-time 5 percent tax on the net worth of residents who own more than $1 billion. The revenue is largely intended to offset cuts in federal funding for health care. According to the results so far, the opponents are ahead in large parts of the state. Proponents narrowly led in Los Angeles and the North Coast.
After heavy losses in the midterms, Republican strategists are blaming President Trump. “Frankly, we need to distance ourselves from Trump as much as possible,” Michigan Republican strategist Todd Gillman told Politico magazine. “I think Republicans could be screwed until 2030.” The strategists cited Trump's decision to go to war against Iran, which was made without serious planning, as well as his brash, politically incorrect style as reasons. Matt Dole, Republican leader in Licking County, Ohio, pointed to Trump's push to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario and to take over Greenland.
Republican consultant Ryan Girdusky said Trump's coalition of voters, buoyed by a shift in young voters, no longer exists. In 18 months of campaigning, Trump built a majority that only exists once in a generation, “and he spent another 18 months blowing it to pieces.”
The Iranian leadership sees the triumph of the opposition US Democrats as a rejection of the war against Iran led by President Trump. The US citizens said “no to war,” Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on the online service X on Wednesday. He added: “And we support this message.” Ghalibaf attributed what he described as US voters' vote against the war to “reasons of conscience or the cost of living.”
The Democrat from California made it clear that his party also wants to use its new majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives to investigate the US president and his government. Garcia sits on the powerful House of Representatives Control Committee.
Former US President Barack Obama viewed the Democrats' clear victory in the general election as a "clear message" from the American people. “They want policies that bring people together rather than drive them apart, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to their problems,” Obama wrote on X.
According to forecasts from several US broadcasters, the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will prevail in the particularly high-profile race for a Senate seat in the state of Michigan. The 42-year-old, who has repeatedly been sharply attacked by Trump, wins against Republican Mike Rogers. If the predictions are confirmed, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim US senator. He belongs to the progressive wing of his party, has made critical statements about Israel and supports political projects that are considered far-left in the USA, such as universal health insurance. His victory is likely to give the left wing of the Democrats a boost heading into the 2028 presidential election.
“America is back,” he declared to the “blue tsunami,” as some media outlets call it in reference to the Democrats’ party color. People in the US have had “enough of extremism and enough of corruption,” said Jeffries.
