Mike Rogers (MI) Racist Controversy Michigan

Mike Rogers Shared a Post Calling His Muslim Opponent a 'Terrorist' and Said It Was 'Exactly Right.' His Campaign Answered With a Football Joke.

Barstool's Dave Portnoy wrote that Abdul El-Sayed 'really is a terrorist.' Mike Rogers reposted it and said Portnoy was 'exactly right,' and the Senate Republicans' campaign arm shared it again. It was the latest in a string of attacks tying a Muslim American doctor to terrorism.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 11, 2026

Mike Rogers Shared a Post Calling His Muslim Opponent a 'Terrorist' and Said It Was 'Exactly Right.' His Campaign Answered With a Football Joke.

On Saturday, October 10, 2026 — three weeks before Election Day — Michigan's Republican Senate nominee shared a post calling his opponent a terrorist, and agreed with it.

Mike Rogers (MI) reposted a clip of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the words written over it by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy: El-Sayed "really is a terrorist." Rogers added that Portnoy "is exactly right." The Detroit News reported that the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the Senate Republicans' own campaign arm — then shared Rogers' post again.

El-Sayed is a Muslim American doctor and a former public health official. Calling him a terrorist is not a random insult.

What the "joke" was about

The clip was about college football. In it, El-Sayed, a University of Michigan graduate, laughs as he asks whether Michigan is "going to win a game without cheating," adding, "I say this as a Wolverine."

Michigan's football program really did get caught cheating. The NCAA fined the university more than $30 million in 2025 after its sign-stealing investigation. So El-Sayed made a sports joke at his own school's expense, and Portnoy, a big Michigan fan, wrote "terrorist" over it.

When the Detroit News asked whether Rogers really believes El-Sayed is a terrorist, his spokeswoman Alyssa Brouillet answered with a football line: "Parroting Ohio State talking points is a bridge too far."

That is not a no. And it is not the first time.

Two days earlier, Rogers wouldn't say it — but went right up to it

At the televised Senate debate on October 8, Rogers was defending the spying programs he backed as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. According to the Detroit News' account of the exchange, he said those programs caught people "suspected of terrorists and being terrorists," then turned to El-Sayed:

"And why would that bother you? Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the watch list ―"

El-Sayed cut in and dared him to finish the sentence: "Go ahead and say it."

Rogers tried again, talking over him: "Did you not have family on … ?"

"Say it. Say it," El-Sayed pressed.

Rogers broke off: "No, I haven't been —"

Two days later, he let a sports blogger say the word for him and called it "exactly right."

This is a pattern, not a slip

The terrorist smear has followed El-Sayed through this whole race, and Rogers and his allies keep reaching for it:

In August, Rogers claimed El-Sayed "believes America deserved 9/11." PolitiFact rated that Pants on Fire — the line came from a Twitch streamer, and El-Sayed had said the opposite. PolitiFact noted the attack evokes anti-Muslim tropes. We wrote about it here.
On the night of October 7, the eve of their debate, President Donald Trump called El-Sayed "Mohammed" in a Truth Social post that was labeled racist.
On October 9, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana campaigned for Rogers in Michigan. Asked about the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC helping Rogers, Kennedy said AIPAC wouldn't "come here if Dr. El-Sayed didn't sleep in a Bin Laden jersey."
On October 10, Rogers shared and endorsed "really is a terrorist."

AIPAC's involvement is its own story. Its super PAC spent $32 million trying to pick Michigan's Democratic nominee and lost; we covered its move to help Rogers instead.

Why it matters

Rogers spent years as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He knows exactly what the word "terrorist" means, and he knows what it means to point it at a Muslim American. His campaign's answer treats it as all in fun. But when a reporter gave Rogers' campaign a plain chance to say he doesn't believe it, it changed the subject to Ohio State.

In summary

On October 10, 2026, Mike Rogers (MI) reposted a post calling Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim American doctor, a "terrorist" and said it was "exactly right," and the Senate Republicans' campaign committee shared it again. Asked whether he believes it, his campaign answered with a football joke instead of a no. It came two days after Rogers raised El-Sayed's family and a "watch list" at their debate, and two months after PolitiFact rated his 9/11 attack on El-Sayed Pants on Fire.