Port Huron, Mich. — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed told reporters after a town hall here that if Republicans want to make him the main character of the midterms, he is not shying away from that fight.
El-Sayed, holding a handheld mic in a signature V-neck black shirt, listened as a woman described burning through savings after emergency brain surgery, then outlined proposals for guaranteed health care and paid leave.
Later downstairs, he called Republican opponent Mike Rogers a coward, said President Donald Trump was afraid to visit Michigan, and dismissed as dumb a question about whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the United States.
El-Sayed would be the country first Muslim senator if elected, and he is crisscrossing Michigan to counter a Republican effort fueled by tens of millions of dollars that portrays him as a dangerous radical.
He has also embraced a confrontational style by mocking and taunting Trump and Rogers, a brash approach that rubbed some Democrats the wrong way during a divisive primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.
No Republican has won a Senate race in Michigan since 1994 even though the state backed Trump twice in three presidential campaigns, framing a consequential November contest.
