Campaigning relentlessly across Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed didn’t highlight the possibility that he could become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
uncertain
he → campaign → Senate
But with victory in hand, he savored his triumph over the vitriol aimed at him and his fellow Muslim Americans.
asserted
he → savor → him
“They tried to demonize people because of how they pray,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
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he → try → Wednesday
“And Michigan — the whole Michigan — clapped back.
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Michigan → clap → ?
People don’t want that.
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People → want → that
They’re sick of it.”
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They → ’re → it
He showed his pride in his victory speech, declaring: “My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.”
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name → show → speech
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath yanked anti-Muslim sentiment into the forefront of American life, those emotions are shared by many Muslim Americans in Michigan and across the country.
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emotions → yank → country
They saw a surge of anti-Muslim rhetoric after Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York City mayor a year ago, and they saw the attacks intensify as El-Sayed became the new prime target.
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Sayed → see → mayor
President Donald Trump called him a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists.”
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who → call → terrorists
Dozens of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress formed a Sharia-Free America Caucus, depicting Islam’s religious code as a threat to the U.S. Constitution.
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Dozens → form → Constitution
But now, after El-Sayed’s defeat of GOP rival Mike Rogers was confirmed early Wednesday, there is a pervasive sense that a broader victory is at hand.
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victory → confirm → hand
The outcome “represents a historic turning point for American Muslim political engagement and a historic defeat for the politics of hate,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
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Awad → represent → Relations
“Anti-Muslim extremists, Israel lobby groups and even the president of the United States used every smear in the book to paint Dr. El-Sayed as a Muslim boogeyman,” he said.
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he → use → boogeyman
“None of it was true, and none of it worked.
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none → work → it
Anti-Muslim hate was on the ballot, and it failed.”
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it → fail → ballot
The mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, said residents showed up at the ballot box in huge numbers.
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residents → say → numbers
“What a beautifully American story,” Hammoud said.
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Hammoud → say → ?
“One of our brightest and best earned the support of the majority of Michiganders who participated in yesterday’s election.
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who → earn → election
And regardless of the direction in which he prays, they’re sending him to the U.S. Senate.”
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they → pray → Senate
Hammoud, who has known El-Sayed for more than a decade, said although his win was important for many Arab Americans, people voted for him because of his platform, not his identity.
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people → know → platform
He cited support in Dearborn for independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
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He → cite → campaign
Sanders, who is Jewish and caucuses with Democrats, ran on a progressive platform.
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who → caucus → platform
In El-Sayed, residents of Dearborn “finally saw themselves and a candidate who appealed to them, but it had to do with far more than just his ethnicity or his religion,” Hammoud said.
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Hammoud → see → ethnicity
“It was honestly because of the policies and building a coalition with this community in an honest way.”
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It → build → way
When Zaynah Jadallah, 26, canvassed for El-Sayed in Dearborn, she said most people told her they already planned on voting for him before inviting her in for water or food.
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they → canvass → water
She credited the name recognition to El-Sayed’s grassroots campaigning and his pride in his Egyptian heritage.
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She → credit → heritage
He never shied away from it or from saying his name,” Jadallah said.
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Jadallah → shy → name
Yasmin El-Sayed, no relation to the senator-elect, took her two daughters to the Detroit watch party from New York.
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Sayed → take → York
She teared up after the victory speech.
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She → tear → speech
“Having grown up in a post-9/11 world, being Muslim, being Arab myself, never in a million years did I think we would see what we saw today,” she said.
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she → grow → what
In a time of suspicion of government, a message of representation
El-Sayed depicted his election as a victory for all those “who don’t see themselves reflected in our government or who’ve been told that they don’t belong for some reason or another — not just how they pray but who they love, how they identify, the color of their skin, where they grew up.″
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they → depict → skin
“I didn’t run to be the first Muslim senator.
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I → run → ?
I ran to be the next senator of the state of Michigan who happens to be Muslim,” he said.
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he → run → Michigan
″But I also know that democracy is constantly about the conversation about who we are, who we want to be.”
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we → know → who
“Michigan proved just how big we are.
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we → prove → ?
Rejected a hateful, spiteful campaign that had nothing to say about the issues and only wanted to point to my name and my face,” he added.
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he → reject → name
″I want all of those folks out there who have been told that America’s not big enough for them to reflect on that.
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them → want → that
Mohamed Gula, CEO of the Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, said he was elated by El-Sayed’s triumph after a year of “extremely Islamophobic and disgusting rhetoric being used as a campaign strategy.”
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he → say → strategy
“For Abdul to come out last night and use his full name meant the world to someone who grew up in post-9/11 America, where the Muslim American community was seen through a national security lens,” Gula said.
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Gula → come → lens
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
