GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The two candidates battling for Michigan’s open Senate seat tangled here Thursday over the war in Iran, gas prices and tariffs in a debate that often veered into mean-spirited sniping.
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed sought to portray his Republican rival, former Rep. Mike Rogers, as a weak-willed loyalist to President Donald Trump who has recently changed his positions on certain issues out of political necessity.
Rogers tried to frame El-Sayed as a “con man” who is making promises he cannot pay for without raising taxes or other costs.
Each repeatedly taunted the other over real estate — a home Rogers has in Florida and property El-Sayed’s wife owns in the United Arab Emirates. The debate, hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD of Grand Rapids, became so punchy at times that moderator Rick Albin pleaded for the candidates to rein in their attacks.
“I’d like to be a part of the debate, too,” Albin interjected at one point.
Michigan’s Senate race is one of the most competitive and closely watched in the country, and the results could help determine partisan control of the chamber. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election.
Backed by progressive luminaries such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., El-Sayed emerged from a nasty primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, who positioned herself as a more moderate Democrat. Since then, Republicans eager to win a Senate seat in the state for the first time since 1994 have tried to paint El-Sayed as an extremist.
The debate opened with Albin asking both candidates whether, at a time of high gas prices related to the war with Iran, they would support a pause on the federal gas tax. Both said they would support a pause, but the question led into a deeper discussion about the conflict. Rogers, who initially supported the war, recently said he wants it to end swiftly.
“I would support pausing the federal gas tax, but there is one thing that is actually causing this: It’s the war in Iran, a war that has been cheer-led by my opponent since the beginning,” El-Sayed said. “Called it a ‘win, win, win.’ I don’t know about you, but when I go to the gas tank, I don’t feel like I’m winning. I don’t feel like our country is winning.”
Rogers responded by pivoting to El-Sayed’s support for “Medicare for All,” a proposal that Sanders and others on the left have been championing for years. Such a policy, Rogers asserted, would force people off private insurance they might prefer while causing taxes and gas prices to rise.
“It is a disaster,” Rogers said. “We cannot afford Abdul.”
At another point, Rogers said: “Listen to this guy and what he’s trying to sell here today. You’re going to find out that this guy is not what he says he is. He is actually selling the best con I think I’ve ever seen.”
Albin then turned the discussion toward tariffs — another area in which Rogers has recently tried to distance himself from Trump.
New tariffs implemented by Trump took effect last month, placing duties of 15% to 50% on $20 billion worth of U.S. products exported to Canada. The tariffs are a major issue in Michigan, which borders and trades with Canada. Rogers, who once supported Trump’s push, released an ad this week calling for an end to the trade war.
“I have actually called the White House this week, talked to the secretary of commerce about getting the deal done,” Rogers said during the debate. “Canada still has some high tariffs for U.S. goods, and they did it before they started. Those should be eliminated. There are tariffs that I think are too high and not helpful for us. We ought to get rid of those. So this is about getting the best deal possible. I’d like to see it end.”
El-Sayed countered by noting Rogers’ initial support and a study that estimated how costly the tariffs have been for Michigan households.
“Look, you’re hearing somebody who has cheer-led, again, a Canadian tariff policy that we are paying $5,600 a year for,” El-Sayed said. “The reason he’s flip-flopping has nothing to do with policy, has nothing to do with your costs. Has everything to do with his sagging poll numbers.”
El-Sayed added, a moment later: “Weak, cowardly, won’t stand up until his poll numbers drop.”
The debate presented other contrasts between the candidates, including differences over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which El-Sayed has called for abolishing. When Albin asked whether he believed the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy had ever gone too far, Rogers said this year’s very public operation in Minneapolis, which resulted in federal agents’ shooting and killing two U.S. citizens, was “probably not appropriate.”
“I actually did fugitive raids when I was an FBI agent in Chicago,” he said. “You always want to go in quiet, get the bad guy, get out of the neighborhood for less problems. So that to me was something that they could have done differently.”
El-Sayed was pressed about his criticism of Israel and his recent refusal, in a NewsNation interview, to say whether he sees Israel or Iran as a bigger threat to the U.S. Despite Albin’s prodding, El-Sayed again declined to offer a direct answer.
“I’m just going to say that that’s a ridiculous hypothetical, because here’s what’s happening right now: Our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran,” he replied.
“We have watched as Iran has responded by bombing all kinds of countries in the Middle East and then choking off the world’s energy supply. So this is a situation in which I don’t think we should be a part. I don’t want to be pushed into war by Israel,” he added. “I want our money spent here to buy schools and healthcare and childcare here. I don’t understand why that is so inconceivable.”
The debate was the first of two planned between El-Sayed and Rogers, but the candidates have been circling each other for months. Both have leaned into schoolyard taunts, with Rogers mocking El-Sayed’s height and El-Sayed challenging Rogers to a “no pads” football game.
Nationally, Republicans have tried to make El-Sayed, with his progressive views and alliances, the new face of the Democratic Party. In their efforts to villainize El-Sayed, they have also emphasized his ethnicity and Muslim faith.
Vice President JD Vance, for example, has urged Republicans who are “running against a Democrat who’s not that crazy” to instead mention El-Sayed. And Trump referred to El-Sayed on Truth Social on Wednesday night as “Mohammed” and described him as someone who “goes back to the days of the Jihad.”
Earlier Thursday, at a lunch event with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a Grand Rapids restaurant, El-Sayed mocked Trump’s antics, including how Trump pronounces his real name.
“Get it right,” El-Sayed said, “because we’re going to teach you how to say it properly with the word ‘senator’ in front of it.”
He added, referring to Trump and Vance: “They keep pointing to my name and my faith because they think that they can distract us from the issues that affect all of us — because my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford a tank of gas.”
