PBS: 'Resilient' El-Sayed Faced 'Islamophobic and Quite Bigoted Attacks' from GOP

On Election Night, PBS News Hour reporter William Brangham talked to Colin Jackson of Michigan Public Radio Network and spread the "Islamophobia" smear while discussing the U.S. Senate race in Michigan, won by radical Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

Brangham first tried to talk to Jackson, who was reporting from a Democratic watch party in Detroit, at 10:24 p.m., but Brangham's loaded question wafted into the ether because of technical difficulties.

William Brangham: ….You have two races that we've been paying attention to, the Senate race and the governor's race. I want to talk about the Senate race. This is Republican Mike Rogers against Abdul El-sayed. Lot of national attention on this race. Abdul El-Sayed, from the president on down throughout the course of this campaign, has endured some quite vitriolic Islamophobia attacks, and yet he is still running very competitively in this race. How do you explain that, his, his resilience?

Brangham finally connected with Jackson at 10:34 p.m. and took another bite of the "Islamophobic" apple, adding "quite bigoted" to the mix to spice things up. Never mind the well-grounded, well-documented concerns over El-Sayed's hostile attitude toward Israel and Jews, including his family ties to the terrorist-affiliated Muslim Brotherhood.

PBS's William Brangham to Colin Jackson on Election Night: "Abdul El-Sayed comes along and after enduring this withering series of Islamophobic and quite bigoted attacks from the president on down, has kept this race very, very competitive....How do you explain his resiliency?" pic.twitter.com/h8AB8gau2c

— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) November 4, 2026

Brangham: There are two races people are watching, the governor's race, but this very contested Senate race. And that is between Mike Rogers, the Republican, and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. And when this Senate race first opened up, the GOP really thought this would be a great pickup opportunity. Mike Rogers was their nominee. And then Abdul El-Sayed comes along and after enduring this withering series of Islamophobic and quite bigoted attacks from the president on down, has kept this race very, very competitive and still neck-and-neck tonight. How do you explain his resiliency?

Jackson stayed relatively neutral, noting a Michigan Senate seat was never a GOP guarantee.

Colin Jackson: I mean, this was always going to be a slog. You know, Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan since the 1990's. That being said, El-Sayed, this is part of his lore, this is part of his background story. He's saying he's someone who grew up being named Abdul in a town where there weren't a lot of people named Abdul. And he went on to play high school sports, he went on to friends. He said once you get used to dealing with bullies, that's a skill you bring with you your whole life. And so he's really tried to translate that more to the Senate campaign.

William Brangham: And Mike Rogers has been trying to bone up on his moderate credentials. He has been trying to appeal to independents and some Democratic voters. Do you think that campaign has been effective for him? I mean, could he break that losing streak that Republicans have had that you were just describing?

Jackson: I think it would be optimistic to say Mike Rogers was going to take away any significant support, especially from black voters here in Detroit. This is a majority black city, a heavy Democratic stronghold over the years and decades. That being said, I think it comes down to the strategy of siphoning away little pieces of the Democratic base here or there, just enough to make the race competitive. The Rogers campaign opened Senate office in Detroit a few weeks ago. He was the first Republican candidate to do that. He didn't have one here in 2024. He has been campaigning hard to the Jewish community here in Michigan especially in Oakland County. That has been a core of the Democratic coalition. The Rogers campaign is really trying to make inroads that I think Republicans have often ignored in past years.

Earlier, host Amna Nawaz alleged that Trump, "In terms of a closing message, we have covered this too, he's really intensified a lot of his anti-Muslim rhetoric, specifically targeted at the Michigan race and the Democratic candidate there, Abdul El-Sayed. pic.twitter.com/q5VdXqx1yk

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) October 31, 2026