Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s open United States Senate seat, defeating Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 midterms. The Associated Press called the race for El-Sayed, who will become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate when the new Congress takes office in January 2027.
With about 97 percent of the vote counted, El-Sayed led Rogers by 52.4 percent to 45.6 percent, according to the Associated Press, a margin of 2,507,454 votes to 2,172,586. The AP called the race at about 2:27 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
The result gives Democrats a prized battleground pickup on a night when the party won control of both the House and the Senate. The seat was open because Senator Gary Peters did not seek re-election, and both parties spent heavily on a contest that stayed competitive through the final weeks of the campaign. El-Sayed, 42, reached the general election by narrowly defeating Representative Haley Stevens in the August Democratic primary.
A physician who ran on health care
El-Sayed, an Arab American of Egyptian descent, is a physician who previously served as health director for Wayne County and for the city of Detroit. He built his campaign around health care, the cost of living and a promise to be an independent voice for Michigan in Washington. His victory makes him one of the most prominent Muslim elected officials in American history, and the first to win a seat in the Senate.
Speaking to supporters in Detroit on election night, El-Sayed framed the win as an answer to a campaign in which his name and his faith were repeatedly used against him. President Donald Trump had called him a “jihadist” during the campaign, according to Mediaite’s reporting, and Vice President JD Vance had described him as “very, very evil.” El-Sayed responded with humor rather than anger, a choice that produced the night’s most shared political clip.
The “habibi” moment
Turning to the vice president, El-Sayed noted that Vance, who presides over the Senate, is the official who will administer his oath of office. “JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,” he said, using the Arabic term of endearment that means “my dear.” He followed it with a college football jab at Vance’s home state: “Wolverines 1, Buckeyes 0.” To Trump, he added: “I know you struggle with my name, so after JD swears me in, you can just go on and call me Senator.”
The word “habibi” became the most searched term in the United States the next morning as viewers looked up what it means. We explain the word, its roots and how it is used in everyday Arabic in our companion piece: What does “habibi” mean?
Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday, El-Sayed said Michigan voters had rejected a “hateful, spiteful campaign” after months of Republican attacks on his Muslim identity. The AP’s voting data showed every Michigan county shifting toward the Democrats compared with 2024.
What happens next
El-Sayed will be sworn in when the new Congress convenes in January 2027, with Vance administering the oath, exactly as he predicted in his victory speech. He joins a Senate that Democrats now control, and he is expected to be a visible voice on health policy, the issue that defined his career before politics and his campaign throughout the fall.
Rogers, a former congressman who also ran for the Senate in 2024, conceded the race. The seat was one of several open or contested Senate races that decided control of the chamber this year.
Sources: Associated Press race call and reporting; Detroit Free Press; CBS Detroit. This story will be updated as certified results are published by the state of Michigan.