Former Rep. Mike Rogers on Thursday accused Abdul El‑Sayed of being a terrorism sympathizer, warning that Michigan cannot afford to send a Democrat who surrounds himself with “people who despise” the United States to Congress.
Addressing the GOP midterm convention in Dallas, the former FBI agent and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said the Senate race in Michigan is a test of national character 25 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
He invoked the memory of Michigan native Todd Beamer, who helped lead the revolt aboard Flight 93, thwarting a planned attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I never imagined that 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody that campaigns with Hassan Piker, who thinks America deserved it,” he said, alluding to the far-left streamer who has campaigned with Mr. El-Sayed. “Abdul El Sayed has chosen Hassan as his running mate.”
“Together, they attack America. They excuse extremism,” he said, “They treat our country like it’s the villain.”
The stakes in Michigan are unusually high. The open seat is one of the few battlegrounds on the 2026 map, and Democrats likely need to win it to have any realistic chance of flipping control of the Senate.
Republicans are defending a narrow majority, and Michigan — a politically volatile state with a recent history of close statewide races — has become central to both parties’ strategies.
Mr. Rogers has increasingly turned to national‑security arguments as he works to define Mr. El‑Sayed.
In Thursday’s speech, he reminded attendees that Mr. El-Sayed’s initial response to an attack on a Michigan synagogue this year was indirect blaming of Israel and the U.S. by saying that “hurt people hurt people.”
The Lebanese-born attacker had Hezbollah members in his family and some were killed in an Israeli airstrike there.
Mr. El-Sayed later apologized for the comment, but he has struggled to stop the bleeding.
“You don’t sanitize extremism, and you sure don’t ask the people of Michigan to send you to the United States Senate while surrounding yourself with people who despise America,” Mr. Rogers said. “Abdul El-Sayed may be comfortable with that crowd. I certainly am not.”
“He’s a con man. I’m a law man. He wants to apologize for America. I want to defend America,” he said.
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