DETROIT – US President Donald Trump will rally Republicans in eastern Michigan on Sunday, a day after former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in the state, underlining Michigan’s importance in next week’s midterm elections.
Michigan features one of the country’s most competitive US Senate contests: an open-seat race between Republican former US Representative Mike Rogers and Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed. The outcome could help determine control of the Senate.
Trump has repeatedly attacked El-Sayed from the Oval Office and at rallies nationwide, but had not campaigned in Michigan this year before Sunday’s event. If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim to serve in the US Senate.
Trump has sought to portray El-Sayed as a Muslim extremist and has repeatedly mocked his middle name, Mohamed, a common Muslim name. El-Sayed has rejected the accusations and defended his faith in a recent advertisement, saying, “Faith is a thing there’s just too little of in Washington.”
Rogers has alleged, without evidence, that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rogers said El-Sayed had not adequately addressed the allegations and described him as aligned with Democratic Socialists of America and “radical support groups.”
El-Sayed denied any affiliation with the group and called it “shameful” for Rogers to question his allegiance to the United States.
At a Detroit rally on Saturday, Obama said the attacks were intended to make El-Sayed appear “less patriotic and less American” than his opponents. The former president likened the claims to false accusations during his own presidency that he was born in Kenya.
“We have seen this movie before,” Obama said. “I starred in it … This stuff didn’t work on me. Not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”
Trump’s rally in Port Huron, an area he won with more than 66 per cent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, is also expected to highlight the US-Canada tariff dispute. The trade conflict has affected Detroit’s auto industry, prompting Rogers to distance himself partly from the president’s policy.
Rogers praised Trump’s tariffs for securing manufacturing investments in Michigan by Chevrolet and Detroit Diesel, but said the automobile-related portion of the Canadian tariffs “worries me a little bit.”
Ahead of the rally, Trump praised Rogers in a Fox News interview, calling him “solid as a rock” and predicting he would be “an amazing senator.”
Democrats need a net gain of four seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives to overturn the Republicans’ narrow 53-47 and 218-214 majorities.