Michigan-born Abdul El-Sayed has claimed a landmark victory after a fiercely contested campaign in his home state, becoming the first Muslim senator in US history.
The 42-year-old Democrat will now serve in the Senate on Capitol Hill after defeating his Republican opponent in a historic result.
El-Sayed’s victory formed part of a so-called “blue tsunami”, with Democrats taking control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in a sweeping electoral upset.
The scale of the defeat has left Donald Trump facing the possibility of becoming a “lame-duck” president during the final two years of his term.
Trump sought to play down the result, claiming he would have won “in a landslide” had his name appeared on the ballot.
However, Republicans’ losses have been broadly linked to voter anger over Trump’s unpopular military conflict with Iran, which has contributed to sharply higher fuel prices across the United States.
In Britain, figures on the political left celebrated the Democrats’ performance, with particular praise for El-Sayed’s campaign as a rejection of “corporate greed”, “racism” and “genocide”.
His campaign centred on promises to “get money out of politics” and “put money in your pocket”. He also opposed US military assistance to Israel.
Michigan-born Abdul El-Sayed has won a bitterly fought campaign in his home state, becoming the first Muslim senator in US history.
The 42-year-old Democrat, pictured with his wife Sarah Jukaku, will join the Senate on Capitol Hill after securing a historic victory over his Republican rival.
El-Sayed, described as a “firebrand” and “progressive populist”, overcame attacks from Donald Trump and Republican candidate Mike Rogers to win in Michigan.
Trump targets Michigan Democrat over religion
El-Sayed, who has been portrayed as a “firebrand” and “progressive populist”, withstood sustained attacks from Trump and Republican challenger Mike Rogers to secure victory in Michigan.
Rogers, the Republican nominee, attempted to cast his Democratic opponent as sympathetic to Islamist extremism.
He sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, parts of which were designated terrorist organisations by the Trump administration earlier this year.
El-Sayed, whose parents immigrated from Egypt, rejected any association with the group. His supporters, meanwhile, condemned the attacks as Islamophobic.
Pollsters and political strategists said the allegations appeared designed to discourage Jewish and Black voters in the Detroit area from supporting him.
Rogers partly based his allegations on a 2012 letter signed by El-Sayed and other Egyptian-Americans in support of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s newly elected president at the time, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The letter called on Morsi to “purge the media and police” after the Arab Spring uprising had removed Egypt’s authoritarian government.
Last month, Rogers endorsed a social media post that called El-Sayed a terrorist. He also appeared alongside Trump at a rally where the president compared El-Sayed with the attackers responsible for 9/11 and said he wanted to keep a “jihadist” out of the Senate.
Trump further suggested that El-Sayed would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate”.
“If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas,” he added.
Left-wing figures in Britain celebrated El-Sayed’s victory as a rejection of “corporate greed”, “racism” and “genocide”.
El-Sayed fires back at Trump’s name jab
El-Sayed responded to Trump’s decision to refer to him by his middle name, Mohamed, during one of his own rallies, declaring: “I’ll be Senator Mohamed to you, bro.”
“They think that by pointing at my name and my faith, somehow you’re going to ignore the fact that you can’t afford your gas or your groceries, can’t see a doctor,” he said.
Although he is aligned with the Democrats’ left wing, El-Sayed describes himself as a capitalist and rejects the label of socialist.
A former public health official, he also studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
His outspoken criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, which he has described as genocide, together with his attacks on corporate political donors, has won him support from left-wingers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski congratulated the senator-elect on X, describing his victory as one of several across the United States for communities “standing up to billionaires and the media empires they own”.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote: “Congratulations to Abdul El-Sayed on a stunning victory in Michigan.
“You stood up against corporate greed, against racism and against genocide.
“Your incredible campaign shows that there’s something more powerful than big money, hatred and lies: hope.”
Labour MP Naz Shah also posted: “When you vilify, smear and demonise good people who refuse to let your hate define them, other good people don’t stand by.
“They stand up and vote for hope over fear. Congratulations @AbdulElSayed.”
