Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate seat Tuesday night and barely paused to catch his breath before unloading on basically everyone who crossed him during the race. President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and defeated Republican Mike Rogers all got a piece of his victory speech in Detroit. Nothing says “unity” like a winner’s roast where you’re speaking Arabic instead of English. Is this even America anymore?
El-Sayed told the crowd that his opponents “went all-in on one of the ugliest campaigns we’ve seen in our lifetimes.” He claimed critics were “pointing at my name and my faith” and insisted those things aren’t why voters can’t afford gas or groceries. Fair enough, though nobody’s figured out what his party’s economic record has to do with affordability either.
He took a swing at President Trump’s comments about him, saying they grew “uglier and coarser” over the course of the race. He told parents struggling to explain the president’s remarks to their kids to “let them know tomorrow that the bad guys lost.” The crowd loved it. Subtlety, apparently, is not on the agenda. Abdul El-Sayed Michigan Senate victory has the full rundown of what went down election night.
Then came the shot at Vance, and El-Sayed clearly thought this one was clever. Since Vance serves as president of the Senate, he’s constitutionally required to swear new senators in. “There is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January,” El-Sayed said. He capped it off with a Michigan-Ohio football dig: “Wolverine one. Buckeye zero.” Okay, that one’s at least mildly amusing.
He also made clear where he stands on Israel, saying “we don’t want our money spent on apartheid or genocidal war.” That’s the kind of language that caused fellow Democrats, not just Republicans, to raise eyebrows about him during the campaign. His ties to streamer Hasan Piker drew criticism from within his own party, and he faced questions over alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections and his rhetoric toward Jewish voters in Michigan. The left’s big tent is apparently big enough to hold all of that.
He saved his warmest sendoff for Rogers: “Enjoy your retirement. May we never have to see the likes of you in the state again.” Very gracious. Very presidential-adjacent. Rogers, for his part, ran into broader headwinds including voter concerns over affordability, Trump’s trade war with Canada, and the Iran war, according to Fox News.
El-Sayed is now headed to Washington, D.C., where he’ll be sworn in by the vice president he just publicly mocked, and where he’s already promised to bring this exact same energy. JD Vance has endured a lot as vice president, but reading the oath of office to this guy might be the most constitutionally awkward moment of his term so far.
