Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has beaten Republican Mike Rogers to win the US Senate seat in Michigan in the midterm elections, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the Senate in American history. He will be sworn in on January 3.
El-Sayed's campaign faced a barrage of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab attacks which, according to sources, were led by President Donald Trump and his allies. Republicans levelled baseless accusations, including that he was a "jihadist", and Trump said any Black or Jewish person backing El-Sayed was "crazy". Early results nonetheless showed El-Sayed performing well among Black voters in Detroit.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said voters rejecting that bigotry mattered "for every little boy named Abdul, every little girl named Zainab".
A former public health official, El-Sayed campaigned on government-funded healthcare for all Americans, getting money out of politics and tackling the cost of living. He is a critic of Israeli policy and has described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide. In the August primary the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC spent more than $30m against him, but he still won.
His victory helped Democrats secure their Senate majority. Turnout was high across Michigan on Tuesday, including in Dearborn, the heart of Arab America, where long queues formed outside polling stations.