Abdul El-Sayed's historic victory in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary lasted barely a day before it was buried under a torrent of Islamophobic attacks from national Republican figures, according to reporting from The Washington Post and HuffPost. El-Sayed, a former Michigan health director who would be the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate, is now the Democratic nominee facing former Congressman Mike Rogers in November.

Rogers himself led the charge, falsely claiming El-Sayed had once said America "deserved" the September 11 attacks. "I spent years hunting terrorists and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice," Rogers said, invoking his own counterterrorism background to cast doubt on his rival's loyalty. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina piled on with a post asking, "Can we stop electing terrorists into office in America?" while the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by Sen. Tim Scott, ran ads calling El-Sayed "the most radical Democrat Senate nominee ever" over alleged ties to extremist groups.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who describes herself as a "proud Islamophobe," went further, claiming without evidence that El-Sayed had "signed a pledge in support of the Muslim Brotherhood" and pushing conspiracy theories about local mosques stockpiling weapons.

A Phrase Taken Out of Context

The pile-on accelerated after El-Sayed used the Arabic phrase "inshallah" — meaning "God willing" — in his primary-night victory speech. According to Al Jazeera, right-wing influencers stripped the phrase of context to paint El-Sayed as evidence of a religious "takeover," with one post from commentator Benny Johnson racking up more than 193,000 views. Researchers who mapped the online reaction found nearly 2,000 accounts generated over 2,500 interactions on the claim within 24 hours — a pattern researchers say points to coordinated amplification rather than organic backlash. President Trump has also weighed in, calling El-Sayed a "hater of Jews" and "hater of Israel."

El-Sayed has refused to back down, framing the attacks as a sign of political desperation rather than a genuine line of critique.

"They're gonna point at me, they're gonna point at my name, like, 'Wow, he's different.' That's the best you got?"

He's also gone on offense against Rogers directly, calling him a "coward" over the attacks and telling reporters "his ideas are old, his perspective on politics is old — and he's going to find that people don't want that perspective anymore." El-Sayed has argued the rhetoric doesn't reflect the state he grew up in, saying Michiganders are "less interested in how you pray than what you pray for."

The Michigan Senate race, already one of the most closely watched of the 2026 midterm cycle, is now shaping up as a test of whether overtly religious attack lines still carry weight with general-election voters — or whether they backfire on a GOP nominee who leaned into them from day one.