Politics of fear failed to stop El-Sayed's historic US Senate win
DEARBORN, Michigan, Nov 4 -
asserted
Politics → fail → win
The US president repeatedly branded him a jihadist.
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president → brand → him
His Republican opponent questioned his loyalty to America.
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opponent → question → America
Campaign mailers suggested he had ties to terrorists and warned that, if elected, he would bring sharia law to Michigan.
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he → suggest → Michigan
Before Abdul El-Sayed could make history as the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, he endured what critics called one of the most overtly Islamophobic campaigns in modern US politics.
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critics → make → politics
He won anyway.
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He → win → ?
El-Sayed cast his victory in Tuesday's midterm elections as a rebuke to such rhetoric, accusing his Republican opponent Mike Rogers of running what he called a historically ugly, hate-based campaign.
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he → cast → what
"You chose hate, and Michigan chose hope," El-Sayed said in his victory speech.
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Sayed → choose → speech
The attacks were a defining feature of the race, stirring safety concerns among residents in and around Dearborn, home to one of the nation's largest Arab American communities, local officials and residents said this week
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officials → stir → communities
El-Sayed, 42, a Michigan-born Egyptian American who has a medical degree and formerly served as Detroit's health director, ran as a progressive focused on healthcare and the cost of living.
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who → bear → living
David Kolar, a 32-year-old music teacher, said the focus on El-Sayed's faith recalled the backlash Muslims faced after the September 11, 2001, attacks, a period he believed the country had left behind.
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country → say → attacks
"We have freedom of religion, and if he is of the Muslim faith, so be it," Kolar said after casting his ballot for El-Sayed in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
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Kolar → have → Warren
Rogers said his objections to El-Sayed were ideological, not religious.
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objections → say → Sayed
Yet he portrayed him as a national security threat and campaigned alongside Republicans who went further.
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who → portray → Republicans
Foremost among them was President Donald Trump, who labeled El-Sayed a terrorist and compared him to the September 11 hijackers.
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who → label → hijackers
Rogers appeared with Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who said El-Sayed sleeps "in a bin Laden jersey," and with Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, when he called El-Sayed a "jihadist leprechaun" and warned Americans would die if he won.
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he → appear → Sayed
The attacks stood out not only for their severity but for how readily prominent Republicans embraced them, said Nazita Lajevardi, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who studies the intersection of politics, race and religion.
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who → stand → politics
Unlike after September 11 or during Trump's first-term Muslim ban, she said, there was little pushback from Republican party elites.
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she → say → elites
"This is the most egregious and most bigoted Islamophobic campaign I have seen," she said.
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she → see → ?
"What you’re seeing is not just hostility, racism and bigotry from the president ... but you're seeing it from rank-and-file members of the Republican Party."
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you → see → Party
ANATOMY OF AN ATTACK CAMPAIGN
Led by Trump, Republicans portrayed Democratic candidates as radical, un-American and even communist throughout the campaign.
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Republicans → CAMPAIGN → campaign
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was derided in Texas as "Talafreako" over his views on gender and sexuality.
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Talarico → deride → gender
In Ohio, ads weaponized Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton's account of surviving sexual assault in her youth.
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ads → weaponize → youth
Voters appeared far more concerned with pocketbook issues than attacks, however, in an election season when Democrats, including Talarico and Acton, chalked up sweeping wins.
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Democrats → appear → wins
Still, perhaps no campaign leaned into identity politics as heavily as the Michigan Senate race.
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campaign → lean → race
Republicans sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood using decade-old writings on political change in Egypt and social media posts by his half-sister.
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Republicans → seek → sister
The United States designated some Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations this year.
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States → designate → organizations
El-Sayed disavowed the group and denied any association, and no evidence has emerged linking him to it.
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evidence → disavow → it
Republicans also seized on El-Sayed's response to the March attack on Michigan's Temple Israel synagogue.
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Republicans → seize → synagogue
In a statement denouncing the violence, he said "hurt people hurt people," drawing anger from some Jewish leaders who criticized the remark as rationalizing antisemitic violence.
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who → denounce → violence
He later apologized, saying that his comments may have been misconstrued and that "it wasn't the time for context."
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it → apologize → context
Rogers' allies invoked the episode through the campaign's final hours.
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allies → invoke → hours
On the eve of the election, the Michigan Republican Party held a press conference featuring Jewish and Black community leaders opposed to El-Sayed beside a large red sign accusing him of offering "SAFE HARBOR TO TERRORISTS."
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Party → hold → TERRORISTS
Asked by Reuters to substantiate the claim, party communications director Ted Goodman pointed to the "hurt people hurt people" remark, which he said amounted to justifying a terrorist attack against children.
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he → ask → children
The argument resonated with some voters.
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argument → resonate → voters
Five of roughly 30 people Reuters interviewed in the Detroit area said El-Sayed's Muslim faith or perceived links to extremism strongly influenced their vote for Rogers.
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faith → interview → Rogers
"I don't think he's a true American," he said of El-Sayed.
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he → think → Sayed
"I don't trust him."
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I → trust → him
DEARBORN PUSHES BACK
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DEARBORN → push → ?
Most voters interviewed dismissed the attacks as desperate and a distraction from their economic concerns.
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voters → interview → concerns
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
