The first debate in Michigan's closely watched U.S. Senate race reportedly turned combative last week as Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly traded personal attacks, talked over each other and even continued arguing during a commercial break.
Clashing over the Iran war, tariffs on Canada, immigration, healthcare and U.S. support for Israel, Rogers criticized El-Sayed's progressive policies and opposition to military aid for Israel, while El-Sayed accused Rogers of being too closely aligned with President Donald Trump and unwilling to challenge the administration's decisions, though Rogers has broken with Trump on major issues in recent weeks.
The candidates also questioned each other's financial ties and judgment as they compete for the open seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in a race that both parties recognize could help determine control of the Senate.
Perhaps the most telling moment came when the moderator, WOOD TV's Rick Albin, asked El-Sayed, a far-left Islamist Democrat, whether Israel or Iran poses a greater threat to the United States.
"I'm just going to say that that's a ridiculous hypothetical," he responded. "I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One, at risk of attacking us. One, getting us into wars we have no business fighting."
Ron Armstrong, president of Stand Up Michigan, points out that the question was not even on Albin's sheet.
"I believe that was a divine spiritual intervention that he asked the question," he tells AFN.
He says Albin asked it as a follow-up because El-Sayed would not answer the broader question, and the moderator believed "it was such an easy answer."
But Armstrong says El-Sayed cannot support Israel "because he is Muslim."
"He wants to destroy Israel and our way of life," the conservative activist adds.
"In the debate, he talked about how Israel has bombed and killed innocent civilians all through the Middle East as if they are the aggressor, not the ones who are defending themselves against thousands of rockets and, of course, the assault on October 7," Armstrong says.
That, he says, demonstrates that El-Sayed is out of touch with reality.
"The moderator thought it would be his saving moment, and it turned out to be the defining one," Armstrong says.
With less than a month to go, El-Sayed is polling just one point ahead of Rogers.
