Michigan voters could make political history in November by electing Abdul El-Sayed as the country's first Muslim senator, in a race that has turned into a test of whether an openly progressive Democrat can win statewide in one of America's most closely contested battlegrounds.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, is facing Republican Mike Rogers for an open Senate seat in the November 3 elections. Recent polls have shown a close contest, putting national attention on a candidate whose platform combines Medicare for All, higher taxes on billionaires, stronger labour protections and an overhaul of US immigration enforcement with opposition to American military aid to Israel.
