Democrat Abdul El-Sayed held a narrow lead over Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race, with the AP yet to call it.
News Today Desk
Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat and former Detroit health director, held a narrow lead over Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's open Senate race, according to Gulf News. If the lead holds, he would become the first Muslim and the first Egyptian-American to sit in the US Senate.
The numbers were still moving when Gulf News reported. With 41% of Michigan's votes counted, El-Sayed stood at 50.5% to Rogers' 47.7%, and four independents split the remainder. The Associated Press had not called the race at that point, although some US outlets had already declared him the winner.
Close enough that the call is not unanimous. Gulf News said the AP had counted 2,036,599 votes at the time of its update and had not projected a winner. Earlier tallies showed a bigger cushion: El-Sayed led 52% to 46% with nearly 20% of votes in, then 50.5% to 47.6% at 42% counted, per Deadline Detroit.
Gulf News noted that Rogers would need about half of the remaining vote to overtake him. It advised watching the outstanding ballots, especially those from Detroit-area counties, with the AP call and certification still to come.
The gap between "some outlets have called it" and "the AP has called it" matters. Individual news organisations run their own projections and can reach a conclusion earlier, while the AP's call is the one many readers treat as the reference point. Until that arrives, the result is best read as likely rather than settled.
He was born on 31 October 1984 in Rochester Hills, Michigan, to Egyptian immigrant parents, and raised in the Detroit area. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan in 2007 with degrees in biology and political science.
He then earned a doctorate in public health at Oxford's Oriel College as a Rhodes Scholar, followed by a medical degree from Columbia University in 2014. He did not pursue residency and is not licensed to practise medicine, a point his opponents seized on during the campaign.
His public health career moved quickly. He taught epidemiology at Columbia, became Detroit's health director in 2015 at age 30, and led Wayne County's health department from 2023 to 2025.
He ran for governor in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary to Gretchen Whitmer, taking about 30% of the vote. He launched his Senate bid in April 2025 as a progressive who backs Medicare for All and takes no PAC money. A PAC, or political action committee, is a group that raises and spends money to back candidates, so refusing that money is a deliberate campaign stance.
He won the 4 August primary with 48.5% after Mallory McMorrow withdrew, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens. The campaign was not without controversy. He drew fire over remarks on Israel and apologised in August for comments made after a March attack on a Detroit-area synagogue.
Rogers and allied groups outspent El-Sayed by roughly 3 to 2, Gulf News reported. Rogers also has a history in Michigan statewide politics: he lost narrowly to Elissa Slotkin two years ago.
So the contest pits a progressive outsider who refused PAC money against a better-funded Republican who has run statewide before. That contrast is a large part of why the race drew attention well beyond Michigan, and why the margin has stayed tight as the count continues.
Michigan is a Senate battleground that tests whether a left-wing outsider can win a state Trump carried in 2024. The seat could help decide control of the chamber, and a win would also send a signal about the Democratic Party's progressive wing.
The wider picture is favourable for Democrats. Emirates 24/7 reported, citing Reuters, that the party had flipped seats in North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina, and that it had flipped three of the four seats it needs for a Senate majority, assuming it holds its own seats in Michigan and Minnesota. In other words, Michigan is one of the seats Democrats must keep to turn those gains into a majority.
Democrats also held Senate seats in Georgia and New Hampshire, both races once considered competitive but which moved out of reach for Republicans amid Trump's declining approval ratings, Emirates 24/7 said. Gulf News said Democrats were on course to take full control of Congress.
For UAE residents with ties to Michigan or the wider Arab and Muslim diaspora, the result will be closely watched as a first for the US Senate. Many Egyptian, Arab and South Asian families in the Emirates follow US elections closely, and a historic outcome in a state with a large Arab-American community tends to draw plenty of conversation.
Business links are already in place: Gulf News flagged a related item reporting that the RAK Chamber signed a deal with Michigan to boost business ties. Companies with exposure to the US market may also want to follow how the final Senate balance shapes Washington's direction. Emirates 24/7 reported that voters' frustration over the cost of living and the war against Iran launched in February, which drove gas prices up sharply, fed the Democratic gains.
Indicative, not investment advice. Rates are mid-market. Oil is the daily close. Gold is based on the international spot price. Updated 11:39 Dubai time. Exchange Rate API, FRED, gold-api.com.
The AP call and official certification are still to come. Certification is the formal confirmation of the final tally, and it follows the count. Late counts from Detroit-area counties are the ones to watch, since his lead narrowed through the night. Until the AP projects a winner, treat early declarations by individual outlets as provisional.
If you're following from the UAE, the time difference means the counting can run through your morning, so check the AP's live count rather than relying on a single headline.
Money & Rates24-karat gold rose to AED 470.50 per gram in the UAE, with the other karat grades also higher.
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