Dem Star Skewers Trump After Major Victory
The president had constantly called Michigan’s new senator a “jihadist.”
Donald Trump’s least favorite Democrat has skewered the president after winning the Michigan Senate race.
Abdul El-Sayed claimed victory at around 1:30 a.m. over the Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers. Around an hour later, the Associated Press confirmed the result, calling the race for the progressive Democrat with 85 percent of the votes counted.
El-Sayed, 42, who is the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate, immediately set about torching Trump in his victory speech, after suffering ugly attacks at the hands of the president, who tried to paint him as a “jihadist.”
In his victory remarks, Michigan's new Senator nailed Trump and Vance.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
“My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed,” he said at a raucous watch party event in Detroit, using his full name, a reference to Trump’s insistence on calling him “Mohamed El-Sayed.”
“And I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect for the great state of Michigan.”
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He went on: “Up until right about now, you might have noticed that I always say ‘Inshallah,’ or ‘God willing’ whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned. But tonight we can turn that Inshallah into a… Alhamdulillah!” he said, with a buoyant crowd joining him in reciting the phrase that means “Praise be to God.”
In this context, the expression conveys gratitude for an outcome, as he told MAGA voters, “For the right-wing ops, that just means, Praise be to God.”
In the speech, he also addressed Vice President JD Vance, another frequent critic. “JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,” he said, laughing as he earned a huge roar from the crowd.
Trump and Vance spearheaded an ugly campaign to discredit El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants. In a last-ditch attempt right before Michiganders went to the polls, the 80-year-old posted on Truth Social Tuesday: “Abdul El-Sayed Hates Jews and Hates Blacks. Don’t feel bad, he also Hates Whites. Only fools would vote for him in the Michigan race for the U.S. Senate! He will, 100%, do you in! VOTE FOR MIKE ROGERS.”
Former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers shakes hands with Trump at a rally before ultimately losing at the polls.
Jonathan Ernst/Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
But Michiganders chose El-Sayed over Rogers, the MAGA candidate who parroted Trumpy concerns on the campaign trail.
“We did it,” the victor told the Detroit crowd.
The win comes as part of a political earthquake that saw the Democrats seize control of the Senate and the House after a string of extraordinary upsets in states that were supposed to be safely Republican.
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