“Donald, look, I know you struggled with my name.” Abdul El-Sayed had a message for Donald Trump on election night, and he delivered it with a smile. After months of having his name mispronounced and his Muslim identity dragged into the campaign, El-Sayed was now standing before a cheering crowd in Detroit as Michigan’s senator-elect.
His response to the president was just as pointed: “So after JD swears me in January, you can just go on and call me senator.”
The crowd had plenty to celebrate. El-Sayed had defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s closely watched Senate race, making history as the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. At 42, the doctor and former public health official had also pulled off a victory after facing attacks from Republicans and resistance from within his own party.
But his victory speech was about more than making history. El-Sayed wanted to address the way the campaign had been fought, and he was not interested in pretending that the attacks on his identity had been a minor distraction. “Michigan, we did it,” he announced. He then introduced himself by his full name, saying, “My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. And I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect for the great state of Michigan.”
There was a clear sense that he wanted everyone to hear that name.
His name and faith became campaign issues
Throughout the campaign, El-Sayed’s religion was repeatedly brought into the conversation. Trump and Republican allies attacked him over his background, while allegations of links to the Muslim Brotherhood were used to question his loyalty. El-Sayed rejected those claims, which were not supported by evidence. Rather than allowing the discussion to remain centred on his identity, he challenged his opponents to explain how his name or religion had anything to do with the problems facing ordinary Americans.
“They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know that my name and my faith aren’t the reason you can’t afford your gas. Not the reason you can’t afford your groceries. Not the reason you can’t see a doctor,” he told supporters.
It was one of the strongest moments of the speech. The campaign had repeatedly been pulled towards questions about who El-Sayed was, rather than what he intended to do if elected. His response brought the focus back to the cost of living and access to healthcare, two issues that had been central to his campaign.
He also explained why he believed the attacks went beyond his own candidacy. “I didn’t run for myself,” he said. “And in truth, they weren’t targeting me. They were just, weren’t just attacking me. They were targeting and attacking you. They were targeting and attacking the very idea of America.”
El-Sayed argued that the hostility towards him reflected a much narrower idea of who could belong in the country. “See, they hate the idea of an America big enough for anyone who looks a little different, or prays a little different, or whose family comes from a different part of the world,” he said.
He added that this was not just about Muslim Americans. His message extended to anyone who did not fit the image his opponents wanted to promote. “That includes me, but it also includes anyone and everyone who doesn’t look like them, pray like them, love like them, or isn’t rich like them.”
‘Inshallah’ became ‘Alhamdulillah’
There was a more personal moment when El-Sayed referred to something he had often said during the campaign. “You might have noticed that up until now I say ‘Inshallah,’ or ‘God willing’… but tonight we can change that Inshallah to ‘Alhamdulillah’,” he told the crowd. The exchange drew cheers.
His remarks about American foreign policy were considerably more forceful. El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of US support for Israel and its military actions in Gaza, a position that made him controversial during the campaign. “We want our taxes spent here, for schools here, and healthcare here, and infrastructure here. We don’t want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war,” he said.
He went on to make the point in terms of ordinary families, saying: “It shouldn’t be hard to pay your taxes and know that money is going to be spent on you and your kids, rather than dropping bombs on somebody else and their kids.” These were not throwaway comments. His position on Gaza and American military aid had been among the most contentious parts of his campaign, and he showed no intention of stepping away from it on election night. He also connected foreign spending to the issues he wants to address at home, including healthcare, education and infrastructure.
A message for Trump, Vance and Mike Rogers
El-Sayed also had a few words for the people who had spent the campaign trying to keep him out of the Senate. Speaking about Vice President JD Vance, he pointed to what he called the “delicious irony” of Vance being constitutionally obligated to swear him into office in January.
“There is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,” he said.
Then came his message to Trump about finally calling him senator.
He was equally direct when addressing his defeated opponent, Mike Rogers. “Let them know tomorrow that the bad guys lost,” El-Sayed told his supporters. “Let them know that we together, fighting for something bigger, we won. We won! So Mike, enjoy your retirement.”
His campaign focused on Medicare for All, lowering costs and getting corporate money out of politics. Those promises helped him build support among voters looking for a different kind of representation, even as his positions on Israel and Gaza drew criticism. There is now a much bigger responsibility waiting for him in Washington. His victory does not mean every disagreement has disappeared, and voters will expect him to deliver on the promises he made throughout the campaign.
Still, his closing message captured what he wanted people to take away from the night.
“They want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us.”
For a man whose name and faith had been used to question whether he belonged in American politics, it was a fitting way to end the evening. El-Sayed did not distance himself from either. He stood on that stage, said his full name and accepted the seat Michigan had elected him to.
Sources: Reuters, and Al Jazeera.