Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.aol.com
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won the US Senate seat for Michigan, defeating Republican Mike Rogers. Abdul, a physician and public health advocate who made universal healthcare the cornerstone of his campaign, claimed the seat in a contest that had drawn national attention all season. El-Sayed’s win didn’t sit well with far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Throughout the race, Loomer had been vocal in her opposition. Following his election win, Loomer, who commands more than one million followers on X, shared a post that users took as a fresh dig at the senator-elect.
(The remark targets El-Sayed’s Arab and Muslim background; it is Loomer’s view alone and does not reflect the position of this publication.)
“I hope everyone is learning Arabic,” shared Laura Loomer.
TikTok star and pop-culture content creator Lauren Milici, who is predominantly known for her work covering film and television, didn’t hold back when she came across the post. The writer and online personality fired back with a response that caught the eye of her following.
“INSHALLAH, JIGSAW,” shared Lauren Milici.
Rogers’ closing argument against El-Sayed was built on a debunked eight-year-old claim that started with Laura Loomer:
Laura Loomer stands across from the Women’s March 2019 in New York City on January 19, 2019 in New York City – Source: Getty
On October 29, 2026, Robert Mackey published an analysis for The Guardian examining how Republicans had built their campaign against Abdul El-Sayed around the allegation that he was an Islamic extremist. The review traced the entire effort back to a single false claim from Laura Loomer, first made in 2018 when Abdul El-Sayed entered politics. Eight years later, that claim had become the foundation of Rogers’ closing argument.
The allegation was rooted in a letter Abdul El-Sayed signed in 2012, as a medical student at Columbia University, urging Egypt’s then-president Mohamed Morsi to protect the country’s democratic gains following the Arab Spring. Loomer, who has publicly described herself as “a proud Islamophobe,” had long insisted the letter was a public endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Guardian’s review found the letter made no mention of the group.
Rogers brought the claim into the Senate race when he told voters El-Sayed had
“pledged his support to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Trump, Ted Cruz and Robert F Kennedy Jr all amplified the allegation in the race’s final stretch. The claim caught fire in October after a Republican operative, pretending to be a regular voter, asked El-Sayed at a public event to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed responded by comparing the fearmongering to concerns about John F Kennedy’s Catholicism in 1960.
In a television ad, Rogers ran footage of Abdul El-Sayed over images of Hamas militants in Gaza. He claimed El-Sayed had “publicly supported these terrorists” and closed with the warning that “Abdul El-Sayed’s radical ideology is a threat to our national security.”
(The characterizations in the ad are disputed; The Guardian’s review concluded they were false.)
Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy confirmed to The Guardian that the letter Abdul El-Sayed signed “makes no reference to the Muslim Brotherhood,” and had simply called on Morsi to pursue the goals of the revolution.
Obama, Clinton and Kamala Harris all made trips to Michigan to campaign for Abdul El-Sayed in the final stretch of the race:
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, along with former Vice President Kamala Harris, all made campaign stops in Michigan for El-Sayed in the race’s closing weeks. Clinton, who El-Sayed has credited with inspiring him to enter public service, addressed the attacks on the candidate related to his faith during a rally in late October. Their visits reflected the national attention the Michigan Senate race had drawn in its final stretch.
As per a report shared by The New Republic, El-Sayed also contended with significant outside spending during both the primary and the general stages of the race, some of it from donors affiliated with pro-Israel lobbying organizations. The former Detroit and Wayne County health commissioner pressed forward, with his campaign message focusing on domestic economic priorities.
At a town hall in Caro, Michigan, a man who gave his name as Tommy asked El-Sayed whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed pushed back, pressing Tommy on why he was being singled out for the question and noting that the framing assumed he held a “higher order allegiance” than the Constitution. El-Sayed’s campaign turned the exchange into a clip that spread widely online.
Later reporting identified Tommy as Thomas Teepell, the former operations director for Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley and the son of Timmy Teepell, a former aide to Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal. The revelation added an unexpected political dimension to the already-viral exchange.
On election night, El-Sayed paused to reflect on a phrase that had followed him throughout the campaign.
“You’ll notice I always say ‘Inshallah’ [God-willing]. Tonight, we can turn that ‘Inshallah’ into ‘Alhamdulillah’ [Praise Be to God],” he shared.
