Michigan Senate Race Turns on Faith as Muslim Candidate Faces Loyalty Questions

President Donald Trump has labeled Abdul El-Sayed a "jihadist" and said metal detectors would be needed at the Senate if the Democratic nominee were elected. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno asked voters at a Trump rally whether El-Sayed understands that rights come from God and Jesus came for salvation. "He should be nowhere near Washington, DC," Moreno said on Wednesday.

The Michigan Senate contest has moved past ordinary policy disagreement into questions about whether a Muslim candidate belongs in federal office. Article VI of the Constitution bars any religious test for office, and the First Amendment forbids Congress from establishing religion or prohibiting its free exercise. Brown University professor Corey Brettschneider said the rhetoric amounts to a religious test. "When you are saying we can't trust people who are Muslims and that he's going to need to enter a metal detector, unlike everyone else in Congress, that's nothing less than a religious test for office," he said.

El-Sayed has faced questions about ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Islamist organization founded in Cairo. Republicans point to social media posts from his half-sister describing their mother's activity with the group in the 1970s, and El-Sayed wrote a 2011 HuffPost article considering possible outcomes if the Brotherhood took power in Egypt. El-Sayed disavowed the group. In a debate, GOP nominee Mike Rogers asked him, "Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?" Rogers has said he wore the US Army uniform to protect the right of Muslims to pray as they choose.

At a town hall earlier this month, El-Sayed rejected the premise of a question about divided loyalties. He said he would not accept the suggestion that his faith gives him an allegiance beyond the Constitution, and added, "For me, that Constitution is the guiding light." The campaign also runs against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas conflict that began after the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel, which killed around 1,200 people. Some Democrats and Republicans have questioned El-Sayed's positions on Israel and US policy toward the country.

A CNN/SSRS poll released Thursday showed El-Sayed at 49% and Rogers at 42% among likely voters. Democrats have unified behind El-Sayed after a competitive primary. Michigan voters go to the polls on Tuesday, when control of the Senate is also in play. The state has a large Muslim minority, and a trade war with Canada has hit border states including Michigan.

The race has drawn comment from Trump, who in his first term moved early to impose a travel ban affecting travelers from Muslim-majority countries and who often refers to Barack Obama by his middle name, Hussein. Moreno, who was born in Colombia and became a naturalized US citizen, has questioned El-Sayed's readiness for office. A view that only Christians qualify for service would also reach the Jews, Hindus and Buddhists now serving in Congress.