Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s seat in the US Senate, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the chamber. The Associated Press called the race early on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, with about 88 percent of ballots counted, showing El-Sayed with roughly 52 percent of the vote against 46 percent for former Representative Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed addressed supporters in Detroit about an hour before the call, telling them: “Michigan, we did it.” What follows is a short profile of the senator-elect:
- Roots: the son of Egyptian immigrants, he was born and raised in suburban Detroit.
- Education: a University of Michigan graduate and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he earned his medical degree at Columbia University.
- Career: he was an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia before taking public health leadership roles in Detroit and Wayne County.
- Road to the seat: he ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan in 2018, then won his party’s Senate primary in August 2026.
- The seat: it was held by Senator Gary Peters, who chose not to seek another term.
El-Sayed is due to be sworn in as a senator in January, when the new Congress begins.
