Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers met for a more subdued second Michigan Senate debate, their final scheduled encounter before the state’s high stakes midterm election.
Both candidates took a slightly more measured and policy-heavy approach to their second meeting, without the same level of constant bickering that colored their October. 8 event. But the debate still highlighted the steep policy differences between the two and featured plenty of harsh attacks and sharp zingers.
On affordability issues, Rogers argued Michigan can’t afford progressive policies El-Sayed backs, such as Medicare for All. The Michigan Democrat accused Rogers, a former seven-term congressman, of being beholden to the pharmaceutical industry and other
powerful interest groups.
With less than two weeks before the election, the debate marked one of the candidates’ last high-profile opportunities to make their case to voters in a close race that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
In his closing message, Rogers pitched himself to Democratic voters, including those who backed El-Sayed’s primary opponents, who aren’t fully supportive of their nominee. “You’ll have a home with us,” Rogers said.
El-Sayed, who has spent the last several days refuting efforts to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group he’s disavowed and noted he is not connected to, used his final moments to push back on those attacks and reiterate his affordability message.
“I love this country. I love the Constitution and what it protects for all of us. But right now, it has gotten way too hard,” he said. “It costs too much to fill up your tank. It costs too much to buy groceries. It costs too much to see a doctor. It just costs too much.”
Here are three takeaways from the second Michigan Senate debate.
El-Sayed ties Rogers to president through ‘MAGA bingo’
As part of his ongoing strategy to link Rogers to Trump, El-Sayed coined the phrase “MAGA bingo” to imply his Republican opponent was leaning on conservative talking points to distract from the issues.
“I'm sure somebody at home has won MAGA bingo right now, because it's all the buzzwords,” El-Sayed said. “Because he does not want to actually talk about substance, does not want to own his own record.”
Rogers frequently accused El-Sayed of a “pattern of deception” and said the Democrat wanted to make the race about the president. “The bingo game ought to be how many times can he put the word Trump in any answer,” Rogers said.
Candidates spar over Iran war, AIPAC funding, and extremism
On the war, El-Sayed said Rogers has cheerled the conflict with Iran because he’s standing “hip to hip” with the president on the issue.
"He's got a war for everything, and he won't back off the war now. He supports this war," El-Sayed said.
Rogers recently began to call on the administration to end the war, but also defended the administration’s stated objective for the conflict.
“You want to pay $8 a gallon for gas? Let Iran get a nuclear weapon,” Rogers said.
El-Sayed said Rogers missed an opportunity to show he doesn’t support the war because he’s supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The Democrat pointed to New York Times reporting that the group plans to spend up to $9 million in the final days of the campaign.
Rogers questioned El-Sayed’s donors. “If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know: Are you for America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” Rogers said. “You can grin and you can smile and you can talk real pretty, but I'm going to tell you what: that is a risk to our national security.”
El-Sayed took the issue head-on, saying that Rogers’ effort to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood was beneath the former lawmaker.
“I'm proud to be an American, I'm proud of our Constitution, that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray,” El-Sayed said. “And the question – that you would ask that – I think, is actually really quite shameful.”
Rogers said he wasn’t targeting El-Sayed’s faith. “I know you want to make this about you being a victim,” he said. “This is about an ideology.”
Rogers tries to find a middle ground on trade
El-Sayed continued to hammer Rogers over the president’s tariff policy, specifically the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada.
Both candidates agree that some form of tariffs are necessary, but El-Sayed has argued for a targeted approach aimed at helping the state's growing industries. He's criticized Rogers for his past defense of Trump's global tariffs and trade wars.
Rogers has tried to find the middle ground between distancing himself from the administration's actions and defending their effectiveness. Rogers called the president’s tariff policy a “mixed bag" and said he supports ending the Republican administration's feud with Canada, Michigan's largest export partner. But he also argued there are signs jobs were coming back to the state.
He added that he’d be best positioned to work with the president on the issue.
“If it's good for Michigan, I'm going to be for it,” Rogers said. “If it's bad for Michigan, I'm going to be against it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: El-Sayed, Rogers trade zingers: final Michigan Senate debate takeaways
