Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed squared off Thursday night in the first debate of Michigan's closely watched U.S. Senate race, and the exchange quickly turned personal as Rogers challenged El-Sayed over his foreign property holdings and his response to questions about Israel and Iran.
During the debate, El-Sayed attacked Rogers for owning a home in Florida. Rogers fired back by pointing to El-Sayed's property in the United Arab Emirates, saying, "He owns a home in the United Arab Emirates. At least Florida is in the United States," according to a post from the account @LauraLoomer.
A clip circulated by @LauraLoomer captured Rogers continuing the line of attack, referencing El-Sayed's refusal to condemn Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The transcript of the video shows Rogers saying, "can't condemn hamas he can't condemn the muslim brotherhood he says his home is egypt." The remarks drew attention across conservative social media, with the account @gatewaypundit posting that Rogers "Pretty Much Mopped the Floor With Abdul El-Sayed in a Debate Tonight."
The account @RedState published a story titled "Hoo Boy: Mike Rogers Goes to Town on Abdul El-Sayed in MI Senate Debate," reporting that Rogers was "not shy about going to town on all the problematic issues that El-Sayed has, while the Dem often stood there, looking peeved and aggrieved."
El-Sayed, according to the @RedState account, has repeatedly tried to make an issue of Rogers owning a home in Florida. The outlet reported that Rogers turned that attack around by highlighting El-Sayed's property in the United Arab Emirates.
Beyond the exchange over real estate, Rogers hammered El-Sayed on health care. According to @RedState, Rogers said El-Sayed would take away private insurance, cost families more for everything and raise their taxes. El-Sayed claimed during the debate that people could keep their private health insurance if they wanted to, a claim the outlet noted is inconsistent with what he has said on prior occasions.
Rogers also ripped El-Sayed for failing to mention the October 7 attack on Israel during the debate, which fell on the third anniversary of the Hamas massacre that killed more than one thousand people, including forty-nine Americans. El-Sayed, according to @RedState, tried to frame the criticism as making political gain on other people's pain.
The exchange over Israel and Iran also produced one of the sharpest moments. The @gatewaypundit account reported that El-Sayed was asked whether Israel or Iran posed a greater threat to the United States. The account noted it was "such an easy question and yet he refuses to answer," with @RedState adding that El-Sayed dismissed it as a "ridiculous hypothetical."
Another clip highlighted by @gatewaypundit reminded the audience that El-Sayed is not a licensed doctor, despite claims from supporters. The account also pointed to a moment when Rogers mentioned that El-Sayed's mother worked for a group with ties to al-Qaeda, a claim the outlet described as "just brutal."
The @gatewaypundit account summarized the night in a post, saying "Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the two candidates running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, had a debate tonight," and adding that "it was a good night for the Rogers campaign." A separate post from @gatewaypundit declared, "Mike Rogers Pretty Much Mopped the Floor With Abdul El-Sayed in a Debate Tonight – Watch Some Highlights."
The debate also drew attention from national outlets. The @WashTimes account reported that El-Sayed "wasted no time going after former Rep. Mike Rogers over the Iran war -- and he didn't let up in their first U.S. Senate debate, arguing that Michiganders are struggling to make ends meet because of President Trump's war and his tariffs."
The @CNN account framed the evening differently, noting that "it didn't take long for the personal attacks to fly in Thursday night's debates for three marquee Senate races in Georgia, Michigan and Maine," and that "in Michigan, Republican Mike Rogers repeatedly called Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a 'con man' and questioned his credentials as a doctor."
Additional coverage noted that the candidates "frequently exchanged insults amid a high-stakes campaign" as they faced questions about gas prices, the war in Iran and tariffs. The New York Times described the encounter as being "defined more by bitter attacks than substantive policy discussions."
Pre-debate coverage from PBS noted that Rogers and El-Sayed were "set for their first campaign debate Thursday after weeks of sparring both online and in advertisements that are flooding the state in one of the nation's most closely watched races." The Associated Press reported that the two "have had their first debate in Michigan's closely watched U.S. Senate race."
The seat is open as the two compete for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, a state that has drawn significant national attention ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Next News Network could not independently verify the claims made during the debate or the reactions that followed.
Our Take
Republicans have argued for weeks that Mike Rogers would expose Abdul El-Sayed as too extreme for Michigan, and Thursday night delivered exactly that. Rogers didn't just counterpunch on the Florida property attack — he exposed the sheer hypocrisy of a candidate who wants to lecture Michiganders about local ties while holding property in the United Arab Emirates and refusing to condemn Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact that El-Sayed couldn't answer whether Israel or Iran poses a greater threat to America should disqualify him from the Senate on its own. Meanwhile, Rogers hammered him on health care, taxes and the October 7 anniversary that El-Sayed apparently couldn't bring himself to mention. This is the debate Republicans wanted, and it's the debate Democrats are now trying to spin. The conservative accounts that lit up after the debate aren't wrong — Rogers showed up, and El-Sayed showed why he's not ready for the Senate.
