Michigan candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers: The 60 Minutes Interviews

This Tuesday, control of the US Senate. may be decided in the battleground state. of Michigan. The Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, could be the nation's first Muslim. senator, and he's running on. transformation, busting monopolies, Medicare for all, an arms embargo on. Israel. The Republican candidate, former. Congressman Mike Rogers, is eager to. paint his opponent as a radical, but on. policy, he tries to stay inside state. lines, focused on Michigan jobs and.

education. The test for Rogers is whether a. Republican can win in the shadow of. inflation, war, and President Donald. Trump's unpopularity. The test for El-Sayed is whether ideas. that thrill the progressive wing of the. Democratic Party are what middle America. wants right now. The contest is close, contentious, and. it's left the two men without a kind. word to say about each other. >> I'm talking.

>> I'm talking. >> I'll own up to it. >> He's kind of like a glitchy AI chatbot. You say the same. >> after my mom? >> I'm not going after your mom. What What. your mom was working. >> In the home stretch of an expensive, bruising, and consequential Senate race, >> Gentlemen, gentlemen. >> we went to speak to both candidates and. see them in action. >> Do we believe in our ability to stand up. and fight back? >> The son of Egyptian immigrants, Abdul. El-Sayed, won the Democratic primary. against a more centrist rival by a.

sliver of a percentage point, but he has. big ambitions, not just to beat the. Republican Party, but to remake his own. >> MONEY OUT OF. >> POCKETS. >> MONEY IN YOUR. >> POCKETS. >> MEDICARE FOR. >> ALL. >> [cheering and applause]. >> SO, WE GOT WORK TO DO. >> AFTER A RHODES Scholarship and a medical. degree from Columbia University, El-Sayed went straight into public. health administration, and then. politics. >> All right, what size for her? >> He's often associated with the. Democratic Socialists of America, but he.

isn't a member and he keeps his distance. from the label. >> Pick one economic issue that you think. should be the priority for the next. Congress. >> Monopolies and oligopolies. I'm a capitalist. If you read Adam. Smith, he'll tell you the biggest risk. to capitalism was never government. regulation, it was always monopoly and. oligopoly. >> You ran for office in 2018, right? For. the first time. You were endorsed by. Bernie Sanders in that race. Were you. ever a socialist? >> No.

I'm a capitalist who understands the. idea that you should have guaranteed. health care in the country. Anybody who tells you that's. anti-capitalist is not really. understanding how capitalism works. >> Do we believe in our ability to fight. for health care? >> El Sayed is promising a version of. Medicare for all that he says would. leave private health insurance options. intact. He would fund it in part with a sweeping. tax on billionaire wealth. On the trail, though, he says health. care is no longer voters' top concern.

>> What is the most important issue that. you hear about from Michigan voters in. this campaign? Pick one. >> I think right now we are barreling. toward a world where the most important. issue I hear about every day is AI. >> Tell me about that. >> It comes in in two different ways. One. is students saying. So, I just took $60,000 in loans and the. job that I was supposed to have on the. back end doesn't exist anymore or might. not exist in 10 years. Or it's folks in. rural communities who say they're trying. to put a data center in my backyard. I. already can't afford my utilities and.

I'm worried about what it's going to. mean for our water. >> El Sayed wants a cabinet-level agency to. regulate AI and for the frontier AI. research that some fear threatens the. human race. >> Full on pause. >> Full on pause. We need AI under. democracy and AI under control. >> Where the 42-year-old Democrat sometimes. sounds like a candidate for president, his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, is. trying to keep things local. >> Mike! Mike! Mike! >> Michigan hasn't elected a Republican to. the Senate in decades. Rogers hopes to.

make that a virtue. >> This is a change election in Michigan, and that's why I don't really care. what's happening around the country. I. need to fix Michigan. >> [applause]. >> In a populist era, Rogers can sound like. a throwback Republican. >> If we don't fix this literacy problem. >> A former army officer and FBI agent, he. left Congress after 14 years just as. Donald Trump ascended. And his platform. sometimes channels the compassionate. conservative rhetoric of President. George W. Bush.

>> So, what's the number one piece of. legislation you'd want to work on on a. bipartisan basis if you were in the. Senate? >> Reading. Literacy. I'm a big military family. My. father, my brother, me, our son is. fourth generation. Patriotism runs deep. in our family. One of the big reasons they were missing. recruiting during COVID and other places. was the kids weren't reading well enough. to pass the test. in America in 2026. If we don't change that, we are all in. trouble. >> The welcome has been so warm.

>> When El Sayed recently took a bus tour. with Democratic Socialist star. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. through Trump country in Michigan's. Upper Peninsula, they weren't talking. about literacy. >> Shouldn't be this hard in the richest, most powerful country in the history of. the world to afford a tank of gas. >> While the Democrat woos MAGA voters. >> For you know that we do have a state to. save, Lord God. >> The 63-year-old Rogers has been going. into predominantly black neighborhoods. that rarely see a Republican.

>> I'm still growing. >> Trying to persuade African Americans. that El Sayed is taking them for. granted. >> He went to New York with AOC to talk. about how they're going to change the. world in 2028. You know what I want to. do? I want to take care of Flint. I want. to take care of every Michigander who. has kids and grandkids who want to stay. in this state. >> [applause]. >> For his pitch to work, Michigan voters. have to believe that a Republican. senator can fix a Republican president's. policies.

Trump's trade wars, especially the. tariffs on Canada, Michigan's neighbor. and trading partner, have cost the state. an estimated $23 billion since January. 2025. >> I don't think it's helpful to us. It's. certainly not helpful to our automotive. industry. >> I don't like the Canadian tariffs. I've. said so. I've, you know, raised my. concerns to the Secretary of uh. commerce. >> And what did he say? >> Uh I'll get back to you. >> [laughter]. >> Why can't other Republican senators fix.

it though? There's a Republican Senate. majority. Why can't they get the White House to. change course? >> Well, you need one more Republican. senator there. That's how you do it. >> Would you support as a Republican. senator trying to override the president. on tariffs that you disagree with like. the Canadian tariffs? >> If I can't work it out uh and it came to. that, yeah, absolutely. >> Donald Trump is going to come to. Michigan. >> One of El Sayed's attack lines is that a. vote for Rogers is effectively a vote. for Trump.

>> Oh. >> So many. >> The Republican candidate seems to be. looking for daylight with the president. while avoiding direct confrontation. He. supported the unpopular war with Iran, but now says it needs to, quote, wind. down. >> You are like a rock star. >> When it comes to another issue on. voters' minds this fall, Rogers chooses. his words carefully. >> Do you think that the Trump. administration has a corruption problem? >> Well, I can tell you this. I'm a I'm an. FBI agent by training. >> What did you work on as an FBI agent?

>> Organized crime and public corruption. >> And public corruption? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> So, I'm going to act as a United States. senator with the best interests of. Michigan. I can tell you that right now. >> Can you tell me a little bit more about. what that would mean? >> I'll take the facts as I see them and. I'll make a decision based on that. >> The president of the United States. accepted a jet. from a Middle Eastern nation. Do you. think he should have done that? >> I mean, that's not what I would have. done. Uh. but that's uh I don't think it's illegal. for the president to do that. >> Well, thank you, Mr. President.

>> It's a delicate relationship. President. Trump needs Rogers to flip the seat. Rogers needs the president to turn out. the party base. They campaigned together in Port Huron, Michigan last week, where Mr. Trump. trained his fire on El Sayed. >> I'm here to keep a. jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from. becoming a United States Senator. >> The president is talking about an. Islamist movement whose offshoots were.

recently designated as terrorist groups. Rogers has also accused his opponent of. having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, citing a 2012 letter that El Sayed. signed after the Arab Spring in support. of Egypt's new democratically elected. government, which was backed by the. Brotherhood. El Sayed has declined to. comment on the letter, but says he. disavows the Muslim Brotherhood. He. argues that Republicans are targeting. his Islamic faith. >> There's a lot of people, Muslim, Christian, otherwise, who are raised in. a religion and it doesn't stick. Why did.

faith stick for you? >> I think anybody of faith has on-again, off-again relationships with one's own. faith. In my younger years, I certainly. rebelled and it was something that that. kind of came back to me in college. >> Tell me something about how that faith. shapes your politics. >> There is this. uh notion of speak the truth even if it. be against yourself. And. I try to be like radically honest. >> One place where El Sayed casts himself.

as a truth-teller is the debate over US. support for Israel. >> In your view, what's wrong with. America's relationship with Israel? >> Number one, we have been told that we are pursuing a. two-state solution only to aid, arm, and. abet the very people who are trying to. foreclose on the possibility of a second. state. So, it's incoherent on its own terms. Number two, I don't know about you, but I don't pay. my taxes to buy another country a bomb. or a tank. That's Israel, that's Egypt, that's. Saudi Arabia, that's Pakistan. Three, the state of Israel did a.

genocide. >> His language is wrong. They use terms. like genocide. >> In the argument over Israel's war in. Gaza following the October 7th attacks. by Hamas, Rogers leaves no doubt which. side he's on. >> I passionately defend Israel's right to. defend itself and to exist as a Jewish. state. That sets me at odds with my. opponent right off the bat. He refuses. to even acknowledge that Israel has the. right to exist. >> I don't ever get the question of does. Palestine have the right to exist? >> Does Palestine have the right to exist?

>> Yes. >> Does Israel have the right to exist? >> Yes, if there is a shared understanding. >> Wait, you said you said. >> Let me just let me just let me just. understand. I believe, and this is the. this is the problem with this debate. We. start from where we sit, rather than. start from principles. I believe in. equal rights to peace, dignity, and. self-determination for Palestinians and. Jewish Israelis alike. If the. Palestinian people decide. and the Israeli people decide that they. want two states for two people, and they. decide that on equal terms, I'm for it. If they decide that they want one state, shared in a different way, I'm for that.

>> In a state with one of the nation's. largest Arab-American populations, and. about 100,000 Jewish voters, the Middle. East is territory where the campaign's. national and local elements converge. This past March, after a terrorist. attack on a Michigan synagogue and. preschool, Elsayed condemned the. violence. >> There is never a justification for. attacking innocent people or houses of. worship. Never. >> But he added. >> Hurt people hurt people. >> Seeming to put blame on Israel. He later.

apologized. >> So you they got to pick your team. You. want to represent Palestine or you want. to represent Michigan? I want to. represent Michigan. >> To Rogers, his opponent's rhetoric is. feeding an atmosphere of anti-Semitism. >> There are Jewish students at University. of Michigan that my wife and I talked to. who have to hide their star of David. to walk across campus because the. harassment is so bad. Think of that. >> They're getting crushed. >> In a close election, the Rogers campaign. hopes that Jewish Michiganders, usually. a reliable Democratic constituency,

could be one of its keys to victory. Do you think that you were saying enough. to reassure those voters that you were. on their side? >> Wherever our disagreements are when it. comes to Israel, there are a lot more of. things that we agree on here. When it. comes to standing up for Jewish. Americans, I will be right there. >> However the Jewish vote breaks, the. state's more than 200,000 Arab Americans. are expected to turn out to vote for El. Sayed in record numbers. It's one more.

variable in a race filled with them. where the winning Michigan coalition. could be a national surprise. >> What's the biggest thing that you think. is different in US politics if you win? >> The ability to run a campaign and win. against big money by engaging with. people, having a conversation about who. we are and who we want to be. >> What's the biggest thing that's. different about American politics if you. win this election? >> Well, I'm not sure about American. politics, but I'm going to change the. politics of Michigan for sure cuz you're.

going to have somebody who's an advocate. for the state of Michigan. >> One close race, two very different. campaigns, and an election whose outcome will. reverberate far beyond the state of. Michigan. >> [cheering]. >> Watch extended interviews with the. candidates on the 60 Minutes YouTube. channel.