Trump Questions Michigan Senate Candidate's Loyalty in Rally Remarks Critics Call Racist

President Donald Trump stepped up personal attacks on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a rally in Port Huron on Sunday, questioning his loyalty to the United States and portraying him as a national security threat, NPR reported. The remarks drew a sharp rebuke from Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump.

The exchange has made the Michigan race, one of a handful that could determine control of the Senate, a flashpoint over religion and political rhetoric in the final stretch of the campaign.

What Trump said

According to NPR, Trump described El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, as a jihadist who was on the side of terrorists, and said he would have to pass through a metal detector before entering the Senate. He repeatedly referred to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, comparing the idea of blocking El-Sayed from the Senate chamber to the passengers who fought hijackers aboard United Flight 93.

Trump also said he came to Michigan to keep a member of the Muslim Brotherhood from becoming a senator. He criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota at the same event. NPR noted that Trump imposed a travel ban targeting several predominantly Muslim countries during his first term and has leaned further into anti-Muslim rhetoric as Election Day nears.

Republicans have tried to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement whose branches the U.S. government has designated as terrorist organizations. NPR reported there is no evidence that El-Sayed has any affiliation with the group. It noted that his half-sister wrote on social media in 2012 about her family's past ties to it, and that El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents and raised by his father.

How El-Sayed and others responded

El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator in the nation's history if elected, has called attacks on his loyalty shameful and has repeatedly denied any ties to extremist groups. At a rally in Grand Rapids later Sunday, he told supporters he did not care how Trump pronounces or misrepresents his name, because Trump could call him senator after November.

Bahbah, whose group has since renamed itself Arab Americans for Peace, called the president's statements out of line and said they were “crossing a red line.” He told NPR that attacking someone over religion was unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, including Christian Arabs, and predicted voters would remember it on Nov. 3.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at the Grand Rapids rally, said Trump and his allies were turning to Islamophobia because they have little to say on health care, housing and income inequality.

What Republicans and critics of El-Sayed point to

Trump also criticized El-Sayed's association with streamer Hasan Piker, who appeared with him several times during the primary campaign, including on election night. NPR noted that Piker has made remarks that drew criticism.

NPR also reported that El-Sayed has faced criticism over his own statements. He has repeatedly declined to say whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the country. Earlier this year, after an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area, he said that hurt people hurt people. The attacker had lost four relatives in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the week before. El-Sayed later apologized and said he was not trying to justify the attack.

In the second and final general election debate, Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed's opponent, questioned whether the Democrat was for America or for terrorist groups overseas. El-Sayed called that line of questioning shameful.

What's at stake in Michigan

Rogers and El-Sayed are competing for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in what NPR described as one of the most contentious races this year. NPR reported that Republicans are on the defensive over inflation, rising fuel prices and the Iran war, and that Trump has tried to boost turnout by presenting El-Sayed and other Democrats as existential threats to the country rather than political rivals.

Port Huron sits about an hour north of Detroit, near communities where Trump made significant gains among Arab American voters in 2024. He became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win Dearborn, a city with one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the country. NPR said many Dearborn voters were angered by the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza.

Around Prague, based on reporting by NPR