Donald Trump treated Abdul El-Sayed’s one-point Michigan Senate primary win as a Republican opening.
The president called the result “Great news for the Republican Party,” then tore into El-Sayed as a “Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel.”
El-Sayed’s win sets up a general election against Republican Mike Rogers for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Democrat Gary Peters, with the Cook Political Report rating the race a 50-50 toss-up that could help decide control of the U.S. Senate.
The final margin gave Republicans an opening to mock both El-Sayed and the polls.
With 99 percent of ballots counted, El-Sayed held 48.5 percent to Haley Stevens’ 47.5 percent.
NBC News projected the race hours before the Associated Press called it Wednesday morning.
Trump argued on Truth Social that the surveys had missed how close Stevens would come after she had trailed by double digits in some final polling.
“As usual, the Polls were way off on this one. She was not expected to do nearly as well as she did,” Trump wrote. “Now, the Democrats’ crazy policies will only get worse.”
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El-Sayed’s primary victory forced Michigan Democrats to line up behind a nominee many of the party’s biggest names had spent months trying to stop.
Stevens had gone into the race with support from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and millions in outside support.
By Wednesday, Whitmer was publicly backing the Democratic ticket and urging voters to “stop MAGA Republicans.”
“Together, let’s stop MAGA Republicans so we can get to work and deliver results for the people of Michigan,” Whitmer said.
Stevens used her concession statement to argue that Democrats could not afford to leave the primary divided.
“Donald Trump and Mike Rogers want us to come out of this primary tired and divided,” Stevens said. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., stayed short of formally endorsing El-Sayed after remaining neutral in the primary.
She still called party unity the “mission of the next 90 days” and urged Democrats to keep the seat blue while providing “a real check on President Trump.”
Republicans had already begun turning El-Sayed’s platform into the center of the November fight.
Backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and many in the Democratic Socialist movement, El-Sayed ran on Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, restructuring the Supreme Court, higher taxes on billionaires and ending U.S. military aid to Israel.
Vice President JD Vance went after El-Sayed from the White House and later on Fox News.
At the White House, he joked about what a future Democratic administration could look like.
“God forbid you’re gonna have President El-Sayed in three years,” Vance said.
On “The Ingraham Angle,” Vance accused far-left candidates of selling voters redistribution instead of jobs, industry or self-sufficiency.
“They’re not promising you industry. They’re not promising you good jobs. They’re not promising self-sufficiency in a good industrial economy. What they’re promising is redistribution,” Vance told Laura Ingraham.
Vance said El-Sayed’s rise showed a Democratic base drawn to candidates far outside the center, including people who reject private property ownership.
“It wants people who hate even the idea of private property ownership,” Vance said.
The vice president also mocked El-Sayed’s pitch as a working-class fighter.
“How does he fight for the working class?” Vance asked, before accusing him of backing policies that would bring low-wage immigrants into Michigan, drive down wages and leave the auto industry unprotected.
Vance also said El-Sayed had fought Trump tariffs that he credited with saving Michigan’s auto industry.
To Vance, the “limousine socialist” label came down to whether a country builds prosperity through production or redistribution.
“That’s not how you build real prosperity,” Vance said. “You have to actually sustain the foundation of the economy.”
El-Sayed, speaking to supporters after the primary, framed his campaign as one that had absorbed establishment money and kept moving.
He said doubters would ask how he could beat Rogers and “their money” in November.
“I want you to remind them that if we come through this, when we come through this — inshallah — that we’ll have taken $70 million on the chin and kept fighting back,” El-Sayed said.
Democrat nominee for Michigan Senate Abdul El-Sayed: “inshallah”
We are so f***ed if this Muslim wins pic.twitter.com/TrC9FHZXlY
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 5, 2026
“Inshallah” means “God willing” in Arabic and is commonly used by Muslims.
El-Sayed saved some of his first post-primary fire for Rogers, whom he called a carpetbagger and “corporate sellout.”
“Mike’s a guy who spent 14 years in Congress with one goal: to figure out how to cash out the day he left,” El-Sayed told supporters.
He accused Rogers of taking corporate checks before cashing out after Congress, then mocked him for moving to Florida after leaving the House.
“Mike, if you want to be a Florida man, go be a Florida man,” El-Sayed said.
Before the race was called, El-Sayed told POLITICO’s Playbook that Democratic presidential hopefuls should pay attention to his campaign’s demands on money in politics and Medicare for All.
“If not, I’m going to dog you up and down the state,” he said.
El-Sayed also boasted to POLITICO that he would win comfortably, though the result ended up razor-thin. On election night, he showed off a “low stress” reading on his fitness app.
The result followed other wins by socialist-backed candidates that have alarmed Democratic leaders.
Socialist-backed candidates have already defeated multiple incumbent House Democrats this cycle.
In Michigan, voters nominated democratic socialist state Rep. Donavan McKinney over Rep. Shri Thanedar and chose Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence in the competitive 7th Congressional District.
Rogers answered El-Sayed’s win by calling November a choice between “common sense or complete insanity.”
In a statement, the Republican described El-Sayed as an “extremist” who was “leading a movement grounded in ideological fanaticism.”
Rogers also attacked him over crime, public safety, taxes, the Muslim Brotherhood and ties to far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who suggested the U.S. “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
