Democrat Abdul El-Sayed pulled off a stunning defeat over Republican Mike Rogers in the crucial Michigan Senate contest, shattering conventional wisdom that a hard-left candidate couldn’t win a purple battleground.
asserted
candidate → pull → battleground
El-Sayed is now the first Muslim elected to the Senate in US history.
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Sayed → elect → history
“Michigan, we did it,” El-Sayed said at a victory party in Detroit.
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Sayed → do → Detroit
“I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan.”
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I → honor → Michigan
El-Sayed led Rogers 52-46% when AP called the race at 2:27 AM.
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AP → lead → AM
The Michigan Senate seat, vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), had widely been seen as necessary to Democrats’ chances of reclaiming the upper chamber.
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seat → vacate → chamber
El-Sayed ran to the far left on a platform of ending the current health insurance system in favor of universal Medicare for All coverage, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), dramatically taxing the rich and cutting off military aid to Israel.
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Sayed → run → Israel
“The current minority leader has given all of us ample reason to question whether or not he would be our best bet heading into a cycle where we might have the majority, and I think there’s absolutely room for change,” El-Sayed told The Post in August.
uncertain
Sayed → give → August
I don’t know what other options are.
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options → know → ?
If it happened to be a guy named John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, or Chuck Schumer, well then, I’d make a different decision,” the lefty Democrat added.
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Democrat → happen → decision
El-Sayed had emerged politically bruised from a grueling three-way primary in August.
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Sayed → emerge → August
During that primary contest, he courted the far-left by stumping with controversial streamer Hasan Piker and other lefty figures.
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he → court → Piker
He also made his opposition to Israel a top issue against primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), a self-described Zionist and comparatively moderate Democrat.
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opposition → make → Stevens
El-Sayed’s rhetoric on Israel alienated Jewish Democrats, whom Rogers worked to win over.
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Rogers → alienate → Democrats
Two days before the election, Stevens roiled the race by making a surprise endorsement of Rogers, joining him at a church in Detroit and publicly ripping into El-Sayed.
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Stevens → roil → Sayed
She had been under pressure from her mom and fiancé to back Rogers.
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She → back → Rogers
But one of the driving forces behind that decision was El-Sayed’s failure to demand that a controversial ad by Cenk Uygur be taken down, as well as her frustration over being cut out of a unity event with him.
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ad → drive → him
“Our Democratic nominee for US Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away.
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I → say → campaign
And he’s right,” Stevens said in a video endorsement of Rogers.
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Stevens → ’ → Rogers
“And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.
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I → ’ → Senate
I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign.
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I → belong → campaign
I do not stand with Hasan Piker.
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I → stand → Piker
The showdown between Rogers and El-Sayed got nasty at times due to the high stakes of the contest, with the balance of power in the Senate on the line.
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showdown → get → line
Rogers frequently accused El-Sayed of being a threat to national security.
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Rogers → accuse → security
The former House Intelligence Committee boss highlighted connections between members of El-Sayed’s family and groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
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boss → highlight → Brotherhood
El-Sayed’s biological mother worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which was designated a terrorist group in 2004 for supporting Al Qaeda and Hamas.
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which → work → Qaeda
El-Sayed noted that he was raised by his American stepmother and denounced groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.
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he → note → Brotherhood
At times, he worked to fashion his views as a lefty version of “America first” foreign policy philosophy and voiced frustration that his name and Muslim faith were a political impediment.
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name → work → frustration
Still, he boasted that he’d “smoke” Rogers by seven points.
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he → boast → points
El-Sayed returned fire on Rogers almost just as brutally, accusing him of being bought and paid for, knocking his ownership of a “yacht,” trying to cast him as a carpetbagger, a stooge to President Trump, and champion of a surveillance state.
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Sayed → return → state
Although he described himself as a capitalist and was never officially a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he was backed by prominent DSA figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
asserted
he → describe → Sanders
The Aporia
