Republican Mike Rogers attacked off-topic early and often, while Democrat Abdul El-Sayed largely stayed on message, as Michigan’s two main party U.S. Senate candidates debated in Grand Rapids Thursday.
The debate got so off-track that moderator Rick Albin of WOOD-TV felt compelled to chime in.
“I’d like to be a part of the debate, too,” Albin said.
Rogers started on the offensive by squeezing in multiple references to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
El-Sayed is Muslim, but there’s been no evidence – and Rogers offered none in the debate – that he supports those organizations.
In between the bickering, there was some discussion of policy.
High Energy Costs
Rogers was initially a champion of the U.S.-Israel military action against Iran.
Now, as fuel prices have risen, the former congressman has said the war needs to end.
Both candidates support temporary relief of the federal gas tax.
“I've been pretty aggressive about saying we need a pause, both on the state level and the federal level,” Rogers said.
El-Sayed has consistently been against the war.
“We're going to continue to watch as the Iranian regime chokeholds the Strait of Hormuz, making our energy prices higher,” El-Sayed said. “You're going to pay for it, both at the gas tank and at the grocery store, and so we've got to end that war above and beyond pausing the gas tax.”
Flock Cameras
Many municipalities have ended contracts with Flock over privacy concerns and potential misuse by law enforcement.
El-Sayed is not in favor of the cameras.
“I think the idea of being surveilled wherever you are without your consent is a very dangerous thing,” he said.
While in Congress, Rogers was on the influential House Intelligence Committee, and during the debate, he stood by his work on structuring U.S. surveillance policy. However, he was more wary of Flock surveillance cameras.
“I think the states can do it," Rogers said. "If they're just using it for citizens who have committed no crimes, I would not be for that at all.”
Rogers then accused El-Sayed’s mother of working for an organization with ties to Al Qaeda. It turned into one of the more heated exchanges of the evening.
"Go ahead and say it," El-Sayed fired back. "You've been tiptoeing around it the whole time. You're gonna go after my mom?"
In the 2000s, El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Elkomy, was a nurse practitioner for the Islamic American Relief Agency. Leaders of the organization were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice during the Bush administration with violating sanctions after sending money to Iraq. Rogers offered no evidence suggesting Elkomy knew anything about those crimes, and she was never charged or named as a co-conspirator.
Israel
One day before the debate was the third anniversary of the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
Speaking with reporters after the debate, El-Sayed was asked why he didn’t make a public statement to mark the occasion.
“I learned that when people are grieving, don't step on their grief,” El-Sayed said. “Whatever I said, it was going to feel like politicizing that moment. So I decided not to say anything.”
When it comes to providing Israel with weapons for defense, El-Sayed was unequivocal.
“I don't want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries. I don't know what's so hard about that,” El-Sayed said.
Rogers said he would give weapons to Israel but transitioned into another attack on El-Sayed.
“He gets money from people who support openly Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda. His family was even included in those discussions,” Rogers said.
El-Sayed didn’t respond to those attacks during the debate. Afterward, he was asked why.
“They think they can point to my name and say a bunch of scary words, and that people are going to forget that they pay too way too much for gas and groceries,” said El-Sayed.
Debt
The national debt has topped $40 trillion. Rogers touted working across the aisle to lower it while on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.
“I worked in a bipartisan way with my ranking Democrat. We sat down over the course of the summer, and we cut out $11 billion of a $78 billion budget,” Rogers said.
El-Sayed was more critical of the Republican Party's approach.
“Every time his party's in power, we do two things: we cut taxes for the richest people, or and we go to war. And that's exactly what Donald Trump has just done,” El-Sayed said. “So, what do you think you're going to get with him? More deficit, more debt, only to tell us we can't have health care.”
This election could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. That’s underscored by the tens of millions of dollars being pumped into this race from outside of the state.
The interest is also drawing high-profile endorsements – with President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama set to visit Michigan in the coming weeks.
Michigan hasn't elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1994.
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