Abdul El-Sayed spent his victory speech in Detroit arguing that his opponents had tried to make the election about his name and his faith rather than gas and grocery prices. He ended it by turning to the two men who spent the final weeks attacking him.
“JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January.”
He had earlier told Donald Trump, who spent the campaign mocking his name, that once Vance swears him in, the president can just call him senator.
The race was projected for El-Sayed by Fox News. He defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers for the seat, leading by about five points with roughly four-fifths of the vote counted when he spoke; the Associated Press had not yet called it. He would become the first Muslim to serve in the Senate, in a state Trump carried in 2024.
What did JD Vance and Donald Trump say about Abdul El-Sayed before elections?
Vance earlier framed the race as “a battle between grievance and gratitude” and called El-Sayed “a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything.” He also said El-Sayed “hates the history of the United States of America.”
At a rally in Howell on Oct. 27, Vance said El-Sayed wanted to bring the unrest in France to the US:
“The scene of destruction in Paris may be an ocean away, but ask yourselves, are they really so hard to imagine here in the United States of America?
And I guarantee you, if those rioters were burning down New York, or Detroit, the Hasan Pikers and El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on.”
Trump went further. In Port Huron in late October, he said: “I’m here to keep a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.” At a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Nov. 1, he added: “If you vote for this jihadist lunatic that wants to destroy you, you’re crazy,” and said Congress would have to “get a special metal detector for Abdul.”
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
