US Gets 1st Muslim Senator As Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Race

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has made history by becoming the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate after winning Michigan's Senate race. He defeated Republican Mike Rogers in a bitter campaign, giving the Democratic Party's left wing a breakthrough victory in one of the nation's most important swing states.

"Michigan, we did it!" El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, said in a speech at his election headquarters in Detroit. 

"I am so proud and honoured to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan."

A former public health official who has never held elected office, El-Sayed rose from a double-digit defeat in Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary eight years ago to win a seat in the US Senate. He won despite a last-minute hiccup in his campaign when Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, came out in support of Rogers at the 11th hour.

The Michigan doctor rallied voters on leftist campaign promises, including universal health care, to hold a key US Senate seat for Democrats, taking over from the retiring Gary Peters.

The Narrative

Republicans ran a scorched-earth campaign to paint Democrats as communists and branded El-Sayed a terrorist who would endanger Americans.

But the straight-talking 42-year-old El-Sayed pledged to help cash-strapped voters navigate America's thorny health care system.

"You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill," he told Michiganders on the eve of the vote, vowing to upend America's divisive multi-billion-dollar for-profit medical system.

During the race, El-Sayed drew huge campaign crowds across the state, even in deeply conservative Republican areas.

El-Sayed also vowed to get "money out of politics" and address the harsh economic troubles that have voters yearning for a political newcomer to shake up the status quo.

The election makes El-Sayed the first Democratic doctor in the Senate since 1969.