Rogers Pushes Terror Links In Combative First Debate With El-Sayed
(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/08/2026) Republican Mike Rogers repeatedly tried to draw a line tonight between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda, escalating the attack until El-Sayed, as Rogers began talking about someone in his family, cut him off.
“Go ahead and say it. Go ahead and say it. You've been tip-toeing around it the whole time,” El-Sayed said, appearing to challenge Rogers to say outright what he was insinuating.
The exchange came during the first face-to-face debate between the two U.S. Senate candidates, an hour of near-constant bickering that at times saw the candidates practically take over Rick Albin’s job as moderator.
Their attacks ranged from the war in Iran and tariffs to their finances, where they own homes and how many yachts they may or may not have owned.
But if there was a through-line of attack for Rogers, it was connecting El-Sayed’s campaign, supporters and, at one point, his family to people or groups he said support terrorist organizations.
Rogers said during the debate that El-Sayed had taken money from groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and from people who “openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda.” He later said El-Sayed’s “biggest funders” came from a group supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and accused him of being unable to condemn terrorist organizations.
After the debate, MIRS asked Rogers four times what evidence he had to substantiate those connections, but he did not answer.
Afterward, a Rogers campaign consultant approached reporters and directed them to El-Sayed’s campaign finance filings, listing several donor names he said reporters should search and alleging they had connections to the organizations Rogers referenced. Reporters asked for a list of the Arabic-sounding names to be emailed to them. By deadline, the list had not been received.
MIRS later asked El-Sayed why he never disputed Rogers' claims.
“Because at the end of the day, again, this is about trying to point to somebody whose name is different to make all kinds of hearsay accusations that are just not worth the dignity of a response,” El-Sayed said. “I’m just not going to dignify it.”
Thursday marked the first time the two candidates formally shared a stage, less than four weeks before the Nov. 3 general election to succeed U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Oakland County).
It was technically the second debate of the race. El-Sayed appeared at the first FOX 2 debate while Rogers’ podium remained empty, with Rogers maintaining he never agreed to participate and accusing moderator and political reporter Roop Raj of bias.
Thursday’s debate hit the ground running with both candidates saying they would support temporarily suspending the federal gas tax.
El-Sayed quickly argued, however, that suspending the tax would not address what he identified as the root of the problem: the ongoing war in Iran.
“That’s what you’re electing a U.S. senator to do – stand up to Donald Trump and end this stupid war,” El-Sayed said.
Rogers also supported a federal gas tax pause, along with a state pause, and called for a diesel rebate and temporary suspension of diesel exports until the war ends.
When Albin asked whether the federal government should consider price controls on domestically produced oil if prices remained high, El-Sayed said it should be considered during what he described as an emergency.
Rogers said no, arguing his proposals would offer relief without price controls. The question then quickly departed from gas prices.
“The doctor – well, he’s not really a doctor,” Rogers said, arguing El-Sayed could not legally practice medicine and calling him “the best con I think I’ve ever seen.”
El-Sayed, who has a medical degree from Columbia University, responded with what became one of his most frequent refrains of the night.
“My opponent here is going to make this about him and about me,” El-Sayed said. “But really, in the end, this is about you.”
The candidates next moved into the trade war with Canada, where Albin pressed Rogers about his change of heart.
A week earlier, Rogers had said some tariffs could be good for Michigan and some could be bad. And just yesterday, he released a statewide advertisement calling for an end to the “tariff war” with Canada.
Rogers said Thursday he wants a deal reached with Canada, arguing some tariffs are too high and should be removed while others have helped Michigan industries.
“The reason he’s flip-flopping has nothing to do with policy,” El-Sayed said. “Has nothing to do with your costs. Has everything to do with his sagging poll numbers.”
Rogers rejected the characterization that his position had changed when he spoke to reporters after the debate.
“This wasn’t about a change in position,” Rogers told reporters. “This was about time. We were originally told that that Canadian tariff thing was going to be settled quickly. It didn't happen. My argument is . . . that it's time to wrap this up. We have higher diesel prices right now, higher gas prices right now."
When it came to immigration, Rogers was asked to identify an instance where President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement went too far, Rogers pointed to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics used in Minnesota, saying they were “probably not appropriate.”
Rogers, a former FBI agent, said fugitive raids should be conducted quietly by getting the targeted person and leaving the neighborhood with as little disruption as possible. However, he defended the administration’s broader immigration enforcement agenda.
"They made that correction, they made that adjustment, but it has been the largest decrease in murders ever recorded, almost 20 percent across the nation," Rogers said.
El-Sayed reiterated his call to abolish ICE, but said an undocumented immigrant who committed a violent crime, served a sentence and had a deportation order would still be deported under his preferred system.
He said the country could maintain a secure southern border while returning to an immigration enforcement structure more closely resembling the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, and providing a pathway to citizenship for people already living in the country.
The candidates also agreed that the war in Iran should end, but for different reasons.
El-Sayed called for diplomacy and blamed the conflict for higher gas and grocery prices, while Rogers argued Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities had been sufficiently degraded and said it was time to “wrap it up.”
On Israel, Rogers said he “staunchly” supports the country’s right to exist and defend itself. El-Sayed maintained that he does not want U.S. tax dollars funding weapons for other countries, including Israel.
At one point, the fighting became so persistent that it continued through the commercial break.
“In 30 years of doing debates, I’ve never seen it continue during the commercial,” Albin said when they returned.
When they moved to artificial intelligence and data centers, Rogers reiterated his support for a pause on new development while questions about water, electricity and local control are answered. He said facilities should bring their own power and that tax revenue they generate should be used to lower surrounding residents’ property taxes.
El-Sayed called for stronger federal rules governing AI and data centers, including protections for utility customers, water and union labor. Each also accused the other of having investments connected to the industry.
Their approaches to the federal debt also diverged. Rogers pointed to cutting fraud and waste throughout federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. El-Sayed proposed higher taxes on billionaires.
By the closing statements, both candidates had largely returned to where they started.
“I told you what this debate was going to be,” El-Sayed said. “Him pointing at me and saying all kinds of foreign names, or him talking about himself.”
Rogers issued one final warning of his own.
“We cannot afford Abdul,” Rogers said. “And we cannot risk his ideology.”
