Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) tussled Monday and Tuesday over a campaign advertisement the sitting senator made with the Democrat’s GOP challenger, Rep. Mike Rogers.
Moreno, who was elected in 2024, appeared in a video alongside Rogers posted to the social platform X Monday, pushing for Michiganders to support the GOP candidate.
“Look, Michigan, if you want a senator that wakes up every day caring about you, your family, your economic well-being, that is 100 percent focused on the state of Michigan, not on Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and all those other things that are on the other side of the globe, this guy, Mike Rogers is going to care about you and your family,” Moreno said in the video.
“This is what this election is about: America and Michigan first, or everybody else first,” he added.
El-Sayed clapped back at Moreno in his own Monday X post, referencing his background in car sales.
“Used car salesman sells used car,” El-Sayed said, appearing to frame Rogers as the “used car.”
Moreno then took his own swipe El-Sayed, saying in a post on X Tuesday, “Yeah, I sold cars.”
The Ohio senator continued, “You sell open borders, higher taxes, government run healthcare, antisemitism, sharia law, and policies that ship auto jobs to China. One of us understands the American Dream. The other wants to kill it. That’s why [Rogers] is going to kick your ass.”
If elected, El-Sayed would be the U.S.’s first Muslim senator. He has faced attacks throughout the midterm election cycle surrounding his background and faith, including attempts to tie him to the Islamist movement, Muslim Brotherhood, and label him a “jihadist.”
El-Sayed has also been critical of U.S. aid to Israel, with the issue of assistance to the country becoming a hot topic among Democrats in the wake of its war in Gaza. While the Democratic Party is split over the military offensive, with some calling the Israeli forces’ actions a genocide, many Republicans have accused Israel’s opponents of antisemitism.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on Moreno’s most recent post.
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