By Bo Erickson
DETROIT, Oct 25 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump will rally Republicans in eastern Michigan on Sunday, a day after former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democrats in the state, underscoring its importance in next week’s midterm elections.
Michigan has one of the nation’s most competitive US Senate contests, an open-seat race between former US Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, and Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed that will help decide control of the chamber.
Despite repeatedly attacking El-Sayed from the Oval Office and at rallies across the country, the Republican president had not yet campaigned in Michigan this year.
If he wins, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Trump has sought to paint El-Sayed as a Muslim extremist and repeatedly mocked his middle name, Mohamed, a common Muslim name.
EL-SAYED SAYS AFFILIATION IS WITH THE US
El-Sayed has dismissed the accusation and, in a recent advertisement, defended his religion, saying, “Faith is a thing there’s just too little of in Washington.”
Rogers has alleged without evidence that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist groups.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Rogers said El-Sayed had not sufficiently responded to questions about those allegations.
“He’s a Democrat Socialist of America-aligned candidate who has these pretty radical support groups that don’t like America,” he said.
El-Sayed has denied affiliation with the group, saying it is “shameful” for Rogers to question his allegiance to the United States.
At Saturday’s rally in Detroit, Obama framed the attacks on El-Sayed as an attempt by opponents to make him look “less patriotic and less American than they are.”
The former president compared it to his experience as the target of false claims that he was born in Kenya.
“We have seen this movie before,” Obama said. “I starred in it … This stuff didn’t work on me. Not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”
MANUFACTURING INVESTMENTS
Trump’s rally in Port Huron, part of an area of Michigan that he won in the 2024 presidential election with more than 66% of the vote, will also highlight the US-Canada tariff standoff.
The trade fight has affected the Detroit-based US auto industry, prompting Rogers to distance himself from the president’s policy.
Rogers on Sunday hailed Trump’s tariffs for securing manufacturing investments for Michigan by Chevrolet and Detroit Diesel, but said “the automobile portion of these Canadian tariffs worries me a little bit.”
“There’s some good and there’s some things we have to work on,” he told “Meet the Press.”
In a Fox News interview ahead of Sunday’s rally, Trump praised Rogers as someone who shares Michigan voters’ beliefs.
“He’s going to be an amazing senator,” Trump told the “Sunday Briefing” program. “Solid as a rock. Apple pie.”
Democrats need a net gain of four seats in both the US Senate and House of Representatives to overturn Republicans’ narrow 53-47 and 218-214 majorities.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson, additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Ross Colvin, Rod Nickel and William Mallard)
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