The Argument
- What: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers and allies including President Donald Trump are escalating their efforts to tie Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood less than two weeks before the November 3 midterms, with Trump falsely branding him a “jihadist,” Reuters reported Friday, October 23. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026. “Falsely” is Reuters’ own characterization of the branding.)
- The stated target: Pollsters and political strategists told Reuters the approach is aimed at dissuading Jewish and Black voters in the Detroit area who backed El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Haley Stevens, from getting behind the Democratic nominee in the closing days of the campaign. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
- The stakes: El-Sayed and Rogers are vying for the seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters, in a race that could determine whether Democrats gain the four Senate seats needed to take control of the chamber. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. The race is rated a toss-up, with El-Sayed holding an average lead of 2.6 percentage points, according to RealClearPolling.com. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
- The Jackson angle: Every Jackson County ballot on November 3 carries this race. Early in-person voting opens tomorrow, Saturday, October 24. This piece sticks to what Reuters verified on the record, labels each campaign’s claims as claims, and ends with the dueling presidential weekend Jackson voters can watch play out in Michigan on Saturday and Sunday.
What the attack rests on, and what El-Sayed says
Rogers has sought to undermine El-Sayed’s support among Jewish voters by pointing to El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza and asserting that El-Sayed has longstanding family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups. Rogers has pointed to old social media posts by El-Sayed’s half sister saying their mother was involved with the organization in the 1970s. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
El-Sayed has disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood, denied any connection with the group, and has said he was not raised by his mother. His parents divorced when he was 3 years old, and he was raised by his father and step-mother. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
The two campaigns stated their positions to Reuters in directly opposite terms. Rogers campaign spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet said El-Sayed’s “extremist positions” on issues ranging from prisons to the Muslim Brotherhood were alienating Michiganders. El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner said Rogers is trying to distract from the economic effects of Trump’s agenda, adding: “Independent fact checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family.” (FACT: Both statements quoted by Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
The debate exchange, now the campaign’s centerpiece
Rogers hit the Muslim Brotherhood message hard during this week’s televised debate, questioning the Democrat’s loyalty to the U.S.: “If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know: are you for America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” El-Sayed, a son of Egyptian immigrants who would be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate if he wins, responded by calling the question shameful: “It’s actually quite beneath you, Mike. I am proud of America. I’m proud to be an American. I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray.” Rogers, a former congressman, U.S. Army officer and FBI agent, later appealed directly to Democrats who voted for Stevens, saying they “have a home” with him if they were worried El-Sayed was too “extreme.” (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026, reporting the October 21 debate.)
Strategists told Reuters that homing in on the Muslim Brotherhood also aims to hurt El-Sayed by exploiting economic tensions between Black voters and Michigan’s large Arab-American community. Republican political consultant Dennis Darnoi put the math plainly: “It gives them even more reason to pause and not vote for El-Sayed. If Democratic voters aren’t casting ballots for El-Sayed in what is the biggest population area here, then that is a net benefit to Mike Rogers’ campaign.” (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
Is it working? The polling says not yet
A September Emerson College poll showed support for El-Sayed at 81 percent among Black voters, who make up about a quarter of Michigan Democrats. “There was no sign there in mid-September of erosion of Black support for El-Sayed. I would not suspect that the number would have changed much over the last month,” said Matt Taglia, senior director of Emerson College Polling. Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who is running for Michigan governor, scored 4 percentage points higher in the same poll, while Kamala Harris drew 86 percent of the Black vote in 2024. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Keith Williams, who backed Stevens in the primary and is now working to rally support for El-Sayed, acknowledged tensions between the Black and Arab American communities are an issue: “We have to work through our differences. At the end of the day, this election is bigger than our differences because we cannot have a senator going to Washington and supporting Donald Trump’s policies.” (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
The counter-risk is real, and strategists named it. Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell said weaker support among Black and Jewish voters could cost El-Sayed as many as 20,000 votes, and Rogers lost his 2024 Senate bid to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by a similar margin. But some strategists say the attacks may have come too late to reshape the race and risk backfiring if voters view them as anti-Muslim. “I don’t know what this does for them,” said Jim Zogby, a longtime pollster and co-founder of the Arab American Institute. “There are people who think Haitians eat cats and dogs and think anybody with an Arabic name is either a terrorist or a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. But that’s a much smaller group of people, and it’s already a Republican group of people.” (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
(COMMENTARY: Hold the two verified halves of this story at once, because both are documented. The first half: the only biographical thread Reuters reports for the tie is a half sister’s old social media posts about their mother in the 1970s, about a man who says he was raised from age 3 by his father and step-mother, and who has disavowed the group outright. The second half: the strategy’s own consultants describe it on the record as a turnout-suppression play aimed at Detroit-area Jewish and Black voters, not as a factual case. A voter in Jackson can still prefer Rogers on taxes, energy or any policy in the race. What the record does not support is treating “jihadist” as a finding. It is a label, applied by a president, amplified by a campaign, and flagged as false by the wire service reporting it. The open question stays a question: whether a closing-days identity attack moves a 2.6-point toss-up, or hardens the very voters it was built to peel away. Early voting, which opens tomorrow, starts answering it.)
The dueling weekend: Obama Saturday, Trump Sunday
Michigan gets both parties’ biggest names on back-to-back days. El-Sayed has campaigned recently with Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Former President Barack Obama, who has endorsed El-Sayed, is due to campaign with him on Saturday, October 24, and Fox 2 Detroit reports Obama will campaign for El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson in Detroit on Saturday. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026; FOX 2 Detroit, Oct. 2026.)
On Sunday, October 25, President Trump holds a midterm rally at McMorran Place Arena, 701 McMorran Blvd. in Port Huron, with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. and remarks beginning at 3 p.m. The event is free, tickets are required, and registration allows up to four tickets. City officials bill it as the first-ever visit to Port Huron by a sitting president, and the first presidential visit in St. Clair County history. (FACT: Port Huron Times Herald, Oct. 19 and Oct. 22, 2026; FOX 2 Detroit, Oct. 2026.)
Port Huron’s own mayor gave the visit its most honest local review. Mayor Anita Ashford, the city’s first Black mayor, elected in 2024 in a nonpartisan election, told the Detroit Free Press on October 22 that there is no question Trump’s tariff policies are hurting her border city, through tariffs on Canadian imports, retaliatory measures by Canada, and a significant drop in Canadian visitors who have historically patronized Port Huron restaurants, bars, gas stations and shopping malls. “I know it’s affecting the city,” Ashford said. “We have relationships, personal relationships, families across borders, we have people who work over here. Any time you have a situation of tariffs and what we’re seeing now, I think the losers are the consumers.” She welcomed the visit anyway: “I took an oath of office to represent all the people. Port Huron is a welcoming city, and that’s where I stand.” (FACT: Detroit Free Press, Oct. 23, 2026.)
An anti-Trump demonstration is also planned during the visit, with organizers’ gathering details still being finalized as they awaited road closure information, and Port Huron police working with local, state and federal agencies on traffic plans. A protest art installation is being prepared on a vacant lot at 1430 Pine Grove Ave., less than a mile from McMorran Place. (FACT: Port Huron Times Herald, Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, 2026.)
FAQs
What exactly did Reuters report on October 23?
That Rogers and allies including Trump are escalating efforts to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood less than two weeks before the November 3 midterms, with Trump falsely branding him a “jihadist,” and that strategists say the approach targets Jewish and Black voters in the Detroit area who backed Haley Stevens in the primary. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
What evidence for a personal El-Sayed tie does the reporting cite?
Old social media posts by El-Sayed’s half sister saying their mother was involved with the organization in the 1970s. El-Sayed has disavowed the group, denies any connection, and says he was raised by his father and step-mother after his parents divorced when he was 3. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
How close is the race?
Rated a toss-up by independent analysts, with El-Sayed leading by an average of 2.6 percentage points per RealClearPolling.com. The seat is open because Senator Gary Peters is retiring, and the outcome could decide Senate control. (FACT: Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026.)
When can Jackson County voters act on it?
Early in-person voting runs Saturday, October 24 through Sunday, November 1 at your assigned Jackson County site, and polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3. See your sample ballot at Michigan.gov/Vote.
Source links
- Republican ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ attacks on El-Sayed in Michigan seek to exploit Democratic fault lines (Reuters, Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/republican-muslim-brotherhood-attacks-on-el-sayed-michigan-seek-exploit-2026-10-23/
- Port Huron mayor welcomes Trump to Michigan city hurt by tariffs (Detroit Free Press, Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/10/23/donald-trump-visit-port-huron-mayor-anita-ashford/92382016007/
- Trump visit to Port Huron will mark historic first for St. Clair County (Port Huron Times Herald, Oct. 19, 2026): https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/2026/10/19/port-huron-michigan-prepares-for-historic-united-states-president-donald-trump-rally-visit/92328601007/
- Anti-Trump demonstration planned during president’s Port Huron visit (Port Huron Times Herald, Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/2026/10/22/blue-water-indivisible-organizing-protest-during-trumps-visit-michigan/92378189007/
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