President Donald Trump at a Sunday (October 25, 2026) campaign rally ratcheted up his push to link U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to Muslim extremists, comparing him to the 9/11 attackers while saying Democrats would let violent anti-American terrorists into the United States.
“I’m here to keep a jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator,” the President told a receptive audience in Port Huron, which is in a Michigan area where 66% of the vote went to Mr. Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
If Mr. El-Sayed wins, he would be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. Mr. Trump has sought to paint him as an anti-American Muslim radical, and on Sunday (October 25, 2026) he took the rhetoric to a new level, likening Mr. El-Sayed to the attackers who took over United Flight 93 during the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Michigan has one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. Senate contests going into the November 3 midterm elections, with former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, and Mr. El-Sayed vying for an open seat that will help to decide control of the chamber.
The President on Sunday (October 25, 2026) compared voting against Mr. El-Sayed to the actions of Michigan native Todd Beamer and others who fought back against the Flight 93 hijackers.
“Twenty-five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight, just like Todd did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol,” said Mr. Trump.
If Mr. El-Sayed wins, “he would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go in the Senate,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. El-Sayed has dismissed the accusations against him, and at a Sunday (October 25, 2026) night event, he suggested that Mr. Trump’s frequent emphasis of Mr. El-Sayed’s name contains a measure of hypocrisy.
“I get that the President of the United States takes personal offence to my first name,” Mr. El-Sayed told an audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “He doesn’t mind as much when it’s a shared name from the Saudis who are funding his son-in-law’s private equity, doesn’t seem to mind as much when it’s the Qataris who are giving him a $400 million private jet.”
Affinity Partners, Mr. Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s investment fund, has reportedly received billions from a Saudi Government entity. Qatar gifted Mr. Trump a Boeing 747 jet.
El-Sayed says questioning his loyalty is shameful
The mostly White crowd at Sunday’s (October 25, 2026) rally cheered Mr. Trump’s comments on Mr. El-Sayed. Some attendees yelled “traitor” and others yelled “deport,” although Mr. El-Sayed was born in Michigan.
Terrance Camburn, a 52-year-old disabled Army veteran from Sandusky, Michigan, said he supported Mr. Trump’s criticism because of Mr. El-Sayed’s “political beliefs.”
“I’ve been down to Dearborn and I’ve seen many of the things he agrees with,” Mr. Camburn said when asked about Mr. Trump’s 9/11 comments.
Dearborn, Michigan, has the highest per-capita concentration of Muslims of any U.S. city.
As he left the venue after the rally, Mr. Rogers did not respond to Reuters‘ questions about Mr. Trump’s invocation of 9/11. But earlier on Sunday (October 25, 2026), he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he did not agree with the notion that Mr. El-Sayed is a violent terrorist.
“I’ve never called him a terrorist,” Mr. Rogers told NBC.
Mr. Rogers has alleged without evidence that Mr. El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups.
Mr. El-Sayed has denied affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, saying it is “shameful” for Mr. Rogers to question his allegiance to the United States.
Mr. Rogers told “Meet the Press” that Mr. El-Sayed had not sufficiently responded to questions about the allegations.
“He’s a Democrat Socialist of America-aligned candidate who has these pretty radical support groups that don’t like America,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s speech in eastern Michigan on Sunday (October 25, 2026) came a day after former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in the State, underscoring its importance in next week’s elections.
At a Saturday (October 24, 2026) rally in Detroit, Mr. Obama framed the attacks by Mr. El-Sayed’s opponents as an attempt to make him look “less American than they are.”
The former President compared them to his own experience as the target of false claims that he was born in Kenya. “This stuff didn’t work on me,” Mr. Obama said. “Not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”
Democrats need to gain just a handful of seats each in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to overturn Republicans’ narrow 53-47 and 218-214 majorities.
Published – October 26, 2026 07:46 am IST
