This is the moment America’s first Muslim senator, Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, clashed with a British reporter last night.
The confrontation came just hours before El-Sayed won Michigan’s US Senate race early this morning, despite fellow Democrats turning against him in an attempt to stop his radical Left-wing agenda.
Prior to his win, the senate candidate became visibly frustrated during an exchange with Sky News US correspondent James Matthews, accusing the journalist of following him around.
‘Are you registered to vote in the state of Michigan?’ El-Sayed demanded, before adding, after Matthews said no: ‘Then why would I care to have a conversation with you?’
Matthews explained that he was a journalist covering an election with consequences far beyond Michigan, telling El-Sayed that the result ‘matters to the world.’
But the democratic hopeful was unmoved. ‘You know how many votes I want to get into the UK? Zero,’ El-Sayed snapped. ‘I do not care what you think or the questions you ask.’
Republicans had accused the 41-year-old progressive, who has a medical degree but is not a practicing physician, of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in a bitterly contested campaign that saw President Donald Trump label him a ‘jihadist lunatic.’
Meanwhile El-Sayed, who was supported at a rally by former President Barack Obama, focused his campaign on the cost-of-living and the Iran war, telling voters that ‘Donald Trump’s war in Iran is on the ballot,’ before adding, ‘Your gas prices are on the ballot.’
Abdul El-Sayed placed both hands on Sky News reporter James Matthews’s shoulders during the tense election day confrontation, accusing him of ‘chasing’ him around
The exchange, captured on camera and shared by Sky News, offered a dramatic final-day distraction for a candidate already battling turmoil within his own party
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night event in Detroit early this morning, declaring victory
During the exchange with Matthews, El-Sayed had placed both hands on the reporter’s shoulders as the increasingly tense encounter continued.
‘I’m asking you to stop chasing me around,’ he demanded, before walking away.
The clash, captured on camera and shared by Sky News, offered a dramatic final-day distraction for a candidate already battling turmoil within his own party.
Fox News called the race for El-Sayed just before 2am Eastern Time on Wednesday. while the the Associated Press called it at around 2.30am.
‘Michigan, we did it,’ El-Sayed exclaimed before a crowd after 1.30am, claiming victory.
‘To President Trump, I know you struggle with my name. So after JD swears me in, you can just call me senator,’ he said, referring to the vice president.
His declaration followed a dramatic final stretch in which former Democratic primary rival Haley Stevens stunned the party by endorsing his opponent Mike Rogers on the eve of the election.
Stevens doubled down with a barrage of attacks on El-Sayed, igniting a furious Democratic feud. But her defection also galvanized his supporters, with party heavyweights and major donors rallying behind the nominee.
El-Sayed’s campaign raised $2.4million on Sunday – its largest single-day haul – as Stevens appeared alongside Rogers at a church event to cement her cross-party endorsement.
HIs victory preserves a decades-long Democratic hold on the seat. Republicans have not won a Michigan Senate race since 1994, have not won this particular seat since 1972 and have not won a non-presidential statewide election in the state since 2014.
President Donald Trump personally traveled to Michigan to give Rogers a major boost, headlining a rally with him and making vicious, and personal, attacks against El-Sayed and his supporters.
‘If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas,’ Trump told thousands of attendees gathered in Port Huron.
Trump said El-Sayed ‘would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane. They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate.’
Trump also attacked Jewish voters backing El-Sayed, saying ‘Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves’.
El-Sayed was largely disciplined in responding by returning the conversation around costs.
In Grand Rapids he said the Republican strategy was ‘to point at me and my name and my faith. But my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas.’
Rogers and conservative surrogates actively questioned El–Sayed’s loyalties, alleging connections to groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, claims El–Sayed strongly rejected as Islamophobic attacks designed to distract from policy issues.
Heading into Election Day, public polling aggregators pointed to an exceptionally tight race, showing El–Sayed holding a narrow lead with a few percentage points over Rogers.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Dr Abdul El-Sayed visited a polling precinct on the campus of the University of Michigan on Wednesday in Ann Arbor, Michigan
El-Sayed ran against GOP candidate Mike Rogers for the open US Senate seat
And in the rest of America, the Democrats seized the House of Representatives and the Senate in a devastating double blow to President Trump that could mark the beginning of the end for the MAGA era.
In what amounted to a political earthquake, the midterm elections saw a series of deep-red states turn blue.
In Texas, Democratic newcomer James Talarico defeated Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton, while South Carolina elected a Democrat senator for the first time since 1998.
Most remarkably of all, Kansas sent a Democrat to the US Senate, which it had not done since 1932 during the Great Depression.
There were further stunning Democrat Senate victories in Iowa and Ohio, states Trump won by more than 10 points in the presidential election in 2024.
Jubilant Democrats described the results as a ‘blue tsunami’ or a ‘Bluenami.’
Although he was not on the ballot, the midterms were effectively a nationwide referendum on Trump. Republicans’ crushing losses were a dagger to the heart for the White House where a vicious blame game immediately began.
Voters appeared to have passed a damning judgment on Trump’s inability to bring down the cost of living for ordinary Americans, according to exit polls.
The results, reflecting a huge shift in Trump’s once impressive MAGA base, will also cast a cloud over any ambitions Vice President JD Vance has for a 2028 run.
Losing both chambers of Congress will mean Trump entering lame duck territory in his final two years in office.
He will face Democrat-led corruption investigations into himself, his allies and family, and could even be impeached for a third time.