Republicans want Abdul El-Sayed to be the main character of the midterms. He's happy to oblige

PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) — Abdul El-Sayed, holding a handheld mic and wearing his signature V-neck black shirt, slowly shook his head as a woman at his town hall described how she burned through her savings after undergoing emergency brain surgery.

“I’m really sorry for your experience, and I hope that you’re on the mend,” said El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, after outlining proposals for guaranteed health care and paid leave.

Later that night, while talking to reporters in the basement below the theatre, his tone was far different. El-Sayed called his Republican opponent Mike Rogers a “coward,” said President Donald Trump was “afraid” to visit the state and dismissed as “dumb” a question about whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the United States.

The exchanges captured two sides of a candidate who is the central figure in one of the nation’s most consequential Senate races. El-Sayed would be the country's first Muslim senator, and he's crisscrossing the state to counter a Republican effort, fueled by tens of millions of dollars, to portray him as a dangerous radical. But he has also embraced his confrontational side by mocking and taunting Trump and Rogers.

“If they want to make me the main character in the midterms, I’m not shying away from it,” El-Sayed said in an interview. “Run against me. See how well that works out for you.”

El-Sayed’s brash, swaggering confidence rubbed some Democrats the wrong way during a divisive primary against Rep. Haley Stevens. The former public health official has shown little interest in toning it down, remaining unapologetic about his progressive agenda and adversarial approach, emboldening supporters who believe he's the right candidate for an angry electorate that has lost faith in the political establishment.

But his doubters fear he'll cost Democrats control of the Senate by failing to unite his party's disparate factions ahead of November.

“If you want their votes, you have to make nice with those people, and he’s not really doing that,” said Michigan political strategist Adrian Hemond, who supported Stevens. “Maybe he doesn’t have to. The entire theory of this candidacy has been he can remake what the electorate looks like.”

Even though Michigan backed Trump twice in his three presidential campaigns, no Republican has won a Senate race in the state since 1994.

The political landscape is no friendlier this year. Trump started an unpopular war with Iran, leading to higher gas prices. Rogers has opted for a low-key campaign with fewer public events than El-Sayed as he tries to make the race all about his Democratic opponent.

As of Oct. 10, Republicans had outspent Democrats by $78 million to $63 million in the Michigan Senate race, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. Around $40 million in Republican spending has gone toward negative advertisements, compared to only around $20 million from Democrats.

The ads portray El-Sayed as “dangerously radical” and “too extreme,” highlighting his past calls to defund the police and relax immigration enforcement. Others tie him to Hasan Piker, a popular online streamer with whom El-Sayed has appeared and who has drawn criticism for past comments, including saying that “America deserved 9/11.”

On Friday, Rogers appeared alongside Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, who told reporters that El-Sayed “sleeps in a Bin Laden jersey.” Rogers laughed.

Vice President JD Vance has called him “evil.” In one social media post, Trump shared a photo of himself with first lady Melania Trump alongside a photo of El-Sayed and his wife, who wears a hijab, with the caption: “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s.”

Late Wednesday, Trump referred to El-Sayed as “Mohammed” and said he “goes back to the days of the Jihad.”

El-Sayed has hardly backed down. At the campaign stop in Port Huron, he taunted Trump to visit Michigan, suggesting Rogers and other Republicans were afraid the president would hurt their chances.

“Donald, if you’re watching, don’t wuss out, man,” El-Sayed said.

And he responded to Kennedy’s attack by suggesting the Republican is in the KKK.

“That’s rich coming from someone who wears his bed sheets out at night,” El-Sayed posted on social media.

Before the Port Huron town hall, El-Sayed worked his way down a line of people who couldn’t fit inside the theater, shaking hands, taking photos and stopping for conversations.

Jeff Petrucella and his wife Alice traveled from Macomb County to see El-Sayed. They described themselves as politically “middle of the road” and said they had voted Republican in the past.

“I’m pretty done with the Republicans right now,” Jeff said.

Alice said she was “looking for a change that is better for my granddaughters,” pointing to El-Sayed’s support for Medicare for All. Nor was she put off by his more confrontational appearances on Fox News.

“I think he expresses himself well. You can tell he’s a well-spoken, educated man,” she said.

Pat Kreiner was among those who waited nearly an hour to see El-Sayed. Her children had persuaded her to support him in the Democratic primary.

“My son said to me, ‘I have been living with this trickle-down economy since the day I was born,’” Kreiner said. “‘It doesn’t work for me.’”

Kreiner also expressed anger about Trump's trade war with Canada, just across the river from Port Huron.

“We are heartsick about our neighbors,” she said. “They used to come over a lot. We don’t see them now.”

Visiting smaller towns such as Port Huron has become central to El-Sayed’s campaign, with his team recently saying he's held more than 500 events in over 100 cities across the state.

“Go everywhere. Talk to everyone. That’s what we do,” El-Sayed said in an interview.

The personal approach has not erased all the skepticism surrounding El-Sayed, including within his own party.

His criticism of Israel and association with Piker have raised concerns among some Jewish Democrats. El-Sayed has held a series of private gatherings with undecided Jewish voters as he works to win their support.

He has also sought to strengthen his standing with Black voters. In the Democratic primary, Stevens drew more support in Wayne County, home to Detroit and its large Black population.

Ahead of Thursday’s debate, El-Sayed attended two events with Black leaders before stopping at a Black barbershop, where he moved from chair to chair talking with customers. He stopped at one point to speak with a pregnant woman, congratulating her and asking when her baby was due.

“November 8th?” El-Sayed joked. “Make sure you vote early, huh?”

While El-Sayed has spent much of his campaign trying to win over Michigan voters, his candidacy has taken on significance far beyond the state. Republicans have made him a symbol of what they warn is an increasingly radical Democratic Party, while progressives see his campaign as a chance to prove their politics can win in a closely divided state.

At a New York City fundraiser on Oct. 5, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cast his campaign as a test for progressives nationwide.

“If Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere,” said the New York Democrat, a potential presidential candidate.

Ocasio-Cortez plans to campaign with El-Sayed in Michigan next week, followed by former President Barack Obama on Oct. 24.

The national stakes have also drawn renewed opposition. United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, disclosed an initial $94,000 expenditure against El-Sayed on Friday, after spending nearly $30 million to oppose him in the Democratic primary.

And El-Sayed, despite insisting the election should focus on Michigan voters and their economic struggles, has embraced the larger implications of his candidacy.

“I am grateful for your support,” he told the audience at the New York fundraiser, according to remarks obtained by The Associated Press. He said he had two goals — “pick up a U.S. Senate seat” and “change the nature of our politics for the better.”

Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers, right, responds to Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed, during a televised debate at WOOD-TV, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed, smiles during a televised debate with Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers at WOOD-TV, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)

Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers, right, speaks during a televised debate with Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed, at WOOD-TV, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed, talks to the media after a televised debate with Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers at WOOD-TV, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

FILE - Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks during a campaign rally at a coffee shop, Aug. 3, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Only Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday as he vowed to press ahead with strikes on Russian oil refineries, despite criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who blamed him for high diesel prices and said he should be replaced.

The exchange came as Kyiv pressed its campaign against infrastructure deep inside Russia, with a drone attack on Sunday shutting down a data center run by Russian technology giant Yandex, the third strike on the company’s facilities in four days. Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

“Ukraine will be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

“It is possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not want to do so,” he said, adding that any de-escalation must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pushed back on Trump's comments, writing on X late Saturday that Zelenskyy was leading the country through a war for its independence. “He has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide. Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well,” Sybiha wrote.

Trump said Saturday it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the U.S.

“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does,” Trump said.

The U.S. president, who on Friday struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel from Russia in an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, has been urging Zelenskyy for weeks to stop strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

He has sought to blame record U.S. diesel prices on Ukraine rather than the U.S.-led war in Iran, which has driven up world energy prices. Ukrainian and European officials reacted to the diesel deal with dismay, saying it will help pay for Russia’s war effort.

The Ukrainian drone attack on the Yandex data center in the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow, caused outages across the company's services, leaving users in dozens of Russian cities and in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia unable to order taxis or access banking services, according to Russian independent news outlet Astra.

“As a result of the drone attack, the infrastructure of Yandex’s data center in Vladimir was damaged. Operations at the data center have been completely halted. There were no injuries,” said the Yandex Cloud Telegram channel, which provides operational updates on service availability.

In Moscow, residents described disruption to everyday tasks. Pavel Belyavskiy, a driver for Yandex Taxi, said it was unclear whether orders were coming through at all, and that on several rides he had to cancel after waiting a long time because he could not reach the passenger.

“I’d press the ‘call’ button to contact them, but nothing happens,” he said, “There’s nothing I can do, so I’m just forced to cancel.”

Igor Mann said he went to check the status of an order on the Yandex Market shopping platform but the page was unavailable, and connecting through a VPN did not help. “Nothing worked,” he said.

Another Moscow resident, Eduard Malyavko, said the outages had “direct impact” and weren't just about “convenience.”

“It’s also about work,” he said, adding that they also affected “healthcare, and everything else.”

On Thursday, a drone attack took a Yandex data center offline in the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow. A day later, Ukrainian drones hit the company’s major data center in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, partly putting it out of action, Yandex said.

Yandex, often described as Russia’s Google, runs the country’s most popular search engine and a wide range of digital services, and is heavily involved in Russia’s artificial intelligence development.

Elsewhere, Zelenskyy said search and rescue operations ended in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia after a Russian bombing on Saturday, Ivan Fedorov, the former regional head and co-chair of the regional defense council, said Sunday.

Zelenskyy said 23 people were killed in the attack, including four children. More than 30 people were wounded, Fedorov said, eight of whom remain hospitalized.

A man was killed and two women wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Bryansk border region, local officials said Sunday.

Morton reported from London.

A Yandex food delivery courier rides his scooter in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he arrives on Air Force One, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the media after a German-Ukrainian business forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

Rescue workers pull a family from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, examines the current prototype of an unmanned vehicle during his visits Russia's largest internet search engine Yandex headquarters in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 21, 2017. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)