Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's open U.S. Senate race, with the Associated Press calling the contest at 2:27 a.m. By that call, El-Sayed led by nearly 6 percentage points with 85% of ballots counted, according to Bridge Michigan.

The seat was held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters, and Democrats had held it since 1979. "Michigan, we did it," El-Sayed told a Detroit watch party, thanking supporters for backing "the unlikeliest of candidates."

The win came on a night Democrats flipped seats across the country, and Bridge Michigan reports his victory cements Democratic control of the chamber.

Supporters in Detroit chanted his slogan back to him "like they were at a concert," the BBC reported, as the crowd cheered a Muslim man elected to the Senate for the first time in U.S. history.

The result defied an extraordinary barrage of attacks. Rolling Stone reports that Trump called El-Sayed a "Jihadist Member of the Muslim Brotherhood" a week before Election Day and mocked his name and heritage at rallies, while Republicans baselessly tied him to terrorism.

NPR notes Trump had endorsed Rogers, who later tried to distance himself from the president's Iran war. The surprise deepened two days before the election, when El-Sayed's own primary rival, Rep.

Haley Stevens, formally endorsed Rogers — a move Democratic leadership called "a despicable betrayal," per the BBC.

El-Sayed ran on a populist affordability platform — "Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for All" — plus a wealth tax on billionaires and strict AI regulation, per Bridge Michigan and the BBC.

"You shouldn't have to pay $5 for gas," he told Rolling Stone, adding, "They keep just pointing to my name and my faith."

It appears Michigan voters were more interested in gas prices: Bridge Michigan describes him courting rural and northern Michigan and winning over former Trump voters like a 21-year-old Eaton County man who said he felt "burned."

He campaigned with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and was backed by Barack Obama.

The race was widely seen as a test of whether the Democratic left can win in a perennial swing state, not just in safely blue districts, the BBC reports. El-Sayed edged Stevens by about 1 percentage point in a primary where AIPAC backed his opponent and Gov.

Gretchen Whitmer and Peters endorsed her, according to NPR. His position on Gaza — where he described Israel's actions as genocide and called for an end to U.S. aid — carries resonance in Michigan, home to the country's second-largest Arab-American population, per the BBC.

NPR reports he has signaled he intends to be a prominent voice in the party's identity debate, with Michigan holding a prime position in the 2028 presidential nominating process.

In his victory speech he jabbed back at his attackers, invoking Vice President JD Vance with "Wolverine 1, Buckeye 0," and telling Republicans, "You chose hate, and Michigan chose hope."