Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed celebrated his victory in Michigan’s Senate race at a Democratic election night gathering in downtown Detroit early Wednesday, thanking supporters for taking a chance on what he called an unlikely candidate. The Associated Press had not yet officially called the race when he delivered his speech.
El-Sayed, a former public health official in Detroit and Wayne County and a Rhodes scholar, defeated former Representative Mike Rogers after first winning a contentious primary against Representative Haley Stevens. Stevens later endorsed Rogers in the final hours of the campaign.
The general election campaign was marked by racist and Islamophobic attacks, according to the report. President Trump repeatedly called El-Sayed “a jihadist,” while Rogers and his supporters portrayed him as a terrorist.
In his victory speech, El-Sayed said some supporters had asked why he did not respond by calling his opponents racist or hateful. He argued that the attacks were aimed not only at him, but also at his supporters and “the very idea of America.”
Sources: The New York Times Politics.