DEARBORN, Mich. Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Senate race is being celebrated by Arab Americans and American Muslims as a historic achievement, drawing attention to their electoral influence in Michigan and beyond. His win came amid a broad Democratic wave across the state and country, following a campaign that included attacks on his religion and ancestry.
Unofficial results showed El-Sayed carrying Dearborn by 65 percentage points in Tuesday’s election. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said in a social media post that 45,464 residents cast ballots, setting a city turnout record. El-Sayed also won support in large cities and small towns, surpassed Kamala Harris’ 2024 performance and flipped Eaton, Muskegon and Grand Traverse counties, all of which Rogers won two years earlier.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, estimated that Michigan has roughly 400,000 Arab American voters, many of them concentrated in Metro Detroit. Historically, she said, their political affiliations have been divided about equally among Democrats, Republicans and independents. That distribution makes their views on candidates’ positions important in a state such as Michigan, she said.
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, described the outcome as a rejection of hateful campaign messaging. Speaking Wednesday, he said voters recognized him at his polling place on Tuesday and offered support. Siblani, who appeared in one of the Rogers campaign ads, said the hostility directed at Arab Americans and Muslims during the race was unlike anything he had experienced, including after the September 11 attacks.
President Donald Trump repeatedly called El-Sayed a “jihadist,” suggested the Senate would need a metal detector if he won and mocked his middle name, Mohamed. Campaign mailers placed El-Sayed’s face alongside images of the World Trade Center towers. Email newsletters about him from the National Republican Senatorial Committee used the title “Terrorist Watchlist.”
Berry said the overt bigotry aimed at El-Sayed and other Arab and Muslim candidates nationwide likely helped motivate greater turnout for him. She described anti-Muslim rhetoric as a feature of some Republican campaigns and said the election suggested that voters rejecting those appeals extended beyond Arab American and Muslim communities.
For Siblani, the campaign also raised personal questions about the country where he has spent five decades. He arrived from Lebanon in 1976 with $185, founded his newspaper in 1984 and entered Wayne State University’s Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013. He said he had not expected El-Sayed to face such attacks because of his faith or family origins.
Siblani said the underlying concerns of Arab Americans center on opportunities to build better lives. Despite his distress over the campaign, he expressed optimism about what the result could mean. “We want a country that offers opportunities for people who want to come in and excel,” he said.
