El-Sayed Celebrates Win for ‘the Unlikeliest of Candidates’The New York Times reports Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan-born Rhodes scholar and son of Egyptian immigrants, has defeated Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate, after a primary win over Haley Stevens and a campaign President Trump marked by calling him "a jihadist." El-Sayed told supporters the attacks targeted "the very idea of America," while Mallory McMorrow predicted Rogers's message would backfire.