WASHINGTON — Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, repeatedly declined to say whether he views Iran or Israel as the “greater threat to the United States.”
Asked about the issue during Thursday’s debate with Republican opponent Mike Rogers, El-Sayed dismissed the premise as a “ridiculous hypothetical.”
“Here’s what’s happening right now: our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran,” El-Sayed said. “We have watched as Iran has responded by bombing all kinds of countries in the Middle East and then choking off the world’s energy supply.”
He added that the United States should not become involved in the conflict, arguing that taxpayer money should instead fund schools, health care and child care at home.
When pressed to identify which country poses the greater danger to the US, El-Sayed again called the question “ridiculous,” saying both nations “have proven dangerous in their own way.”
El-Sayed had also avoided answering the question earlier on the campaign trail, before facing Rogers in Thursday’s debate.
Rogers attacked El-Sayed over what he described as a lack of clarity on terrorism. He also criticized the Democrat for failing to issue a statement commemorating the three-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which killed roughly 1,200 Israelis. El-Sayed had sidestepped questions earlier that day about why he did not release a statement marking the anniversary.
“This is why you should get absolutely angry,” Rogers said, accusing El-Sayed of refusing to acknowledge the attack’s “pain, the terrorism, the rape, the murders, cutting off of women’s breasts, putting children in ovens and killing them in front of their families.”
El-Sayed responded that he had condemned the Hamas attack.
Rogers faced his own hypothetical when the moderator asked whether Israel could take an action that would go too far.
“I support just staunchly, their right to exist, the right to exist for the Jewish state and the right to defend itself in a very difficult neighborhood,” Rogers said. He then argued that El-Sayed’s largest donors were connected to a group that supports the Muslim Brotherhood, adding that they openly back Hamas, Hezbollah and al Qaeda.
Rogers said Israel would lose his support if it were to use nuclear weapons.
Some observers said the remark appeared to confirm that Israel possesses nuclear weapons. Israel is widely rumored to have a nuclear arsenal, though its government has never publicly acknowledged one. Rogers chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2011 through 2015.
The debate was marked by personal attacks. El-Sayed accused Rogers of accepting corporate money and being controlled by donors, while Rogers sought to associate El-Sayed with Islamic extremism. Rogers pointed to alleged ties between El-Sayed’s father-in-law and a donor and the Muslim Brotherhood. He also noted that El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which the Treasury Department targeted over its support for Osama Bin Laden.
Rogers also invoked El-Sayed’s initial response to a March 2026 terror attack in Michigan, in which a man drove a truck loaded with fireworks and gasoline into the daycare at Temple Israel. No congregants were injured.
El-Sayed initially drew criticism after suggesting the attacker may have been motivated by an Israeli strike in Lebanon, saying that “hurt people hurt people.” He later apologized to a Jewish group for the comment.
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Both candidates repeatedly used the debate to revive opposition research and deliver sharp jabs at their rival.
At one point, El-Sayed highlighted Rogers’ ownership of a home in Florida and later accused him of owning a yacht.
Rogers countered by pointing to El-Sayed’s home in the United Arab Emirates, saying, “At least Florida’s in the United States!”
One notable topic that did not arise was El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker, a far-left Twitch streamer who expresses admiration for Mao. Rogers and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked El-Sayed over his relationship with Piker.
Rogers also made sure to poke at El-Sayed’s boasts about being a doctor.
“Well, he’s not really a doctor. He says he’s a physician,” Rogers scoffed early in the debate. “[As a] matter of fact, if somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he’d go to jail.”
“Listen to this guy and what he’s trying to sell here today,” the GOP contender went on. “You’re going to find out that this guy is not what he says he is. He is actually selling the best con I think I’ve ever seen.”
El-Sayed noted, as he has in the past, that he obtained a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The former public health official also attended the University of Michigan Medical School.
Looming large over the debate was President Trump. El-Sayed laced into Rogers over the war in Iran and tariff battle with Canada. Meanwhile, Rogers carefully worked to thread the needle of trying not to alienate the president’s hardcore backers while also appealing to independents who aren’t fond of the war in Iran or the tariff battle with Canada.
“I have actually called the White House this week, talked to the Secretary of Commerce about getting the deal done,” Rogers said, flexing his influence in Trump world while contending that he wants the trade war to end, but also believes some of the tariffs against Canada are justified.
On the Iran war, Rogers said the conflict should wrap up while accusing El-Sayed of not condemning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“My opponent here would not condemn the IRGC, which today is hanging two 19-year-old kids for saying that they want freedom in their homeland,” Rogers said. “This is the same IRGC that has killed American troops in Iraq. It has blood on their hands. Tried a terrorist attack here in the United States. If you can’t condemn the IRGC, you have no business in the United States Senate.”
El-Sayed replied by insisting that he “will condemn any, any use of force against a domestic population abroad.”
“That’s not hard to do. But I also condemn a war we shouldn’t be fighting, because here we are fighting this stupid war because people like him have been pushing for it for 20 years,” he added.
Polls have regularly pegged the Michigan Senate race as a jumpball contest with El-Sayed notching a 3.2 percentage point edge over Rogers, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
