Michigan Senate candidates clash over Trump ties and foreign policy in second debate

The second televised debate for Michigan’s open Senate seat took place in Detroit less than two weeks before Election Day, as the race between Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers remains statistically close.

El-Sayed repeatedly linked Rogers to President Donald Trump, accusing the Republican of supporting a war that began with Iran’s nuclear program. > “We need a war powers resolution rather than a senator who is going to stand hip to hip with Donald Trump on this war that made no sense when it started and certainly makes no sense now,” El-Sayed said. He added that he intends to hold Trump accountable and to confront corporations he described as “buying and selling politicians.”

Rogers, while acknowledging the war’s origins, has recently called for a wind-down of the conflict. In a prior interview he said, “I don’t think so,” when asked if Trump made a mistake launching the war. He also sought to portray El-Sayed as connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, questioning the candidate’s background and his mother’s charitable work. > “Everything that he said is not accurate, not correct,” Rogers said, adding that El-Sayed had misled voters about his ties to the organization and his medical credentials.

El-Sayed denied any affiliation, stating, “I have no ties, we have no ties,” and criticized Rogers for questioning his loyalty to the Constitution. The exchange grew heated when Rogers interrupted El-Sayed, prompting the latter to assert his pride in America and constitutional rights.

The moderators kept tight control of the discussion, covering healthcare, immigration, crime, Social Security, tariffs and artificial intelligence. On tariffs, Rogers said some measures had produced “positive” effects for Michigan but suggested the recent Canadian tariffs were poorly considered, positioning himself as a potential check on Trump-aligned policies.

Both candidates addressed AI regulation. Rogers supported a limited antitrust exemption for frontier AI firms and floated the idea of a “kill switch” for dangerous systems. El-Sayed called for a pause on frontier research, democratic oversight of AI company boards, and restrictions preventing AI from firing workers, weapons, or denying health insurance.

In rapid-fire questioning, El-Sayed expressed conditional support for expanding the Supreme Court, while Rogers said his stance on universal background checks for firearms was “in the middle.”