Analysis-Beaten at home, Trump faces stark choice on Iran: deal or escalation

Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, addressed President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance following his victory in Michigan's Senate race. During his victory speech, El-Sayed playfully invited Trump to call him Senator after he is sworn in in January. He humorously told Vance, "JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you're constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January."

El-Sayed criticized AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, for spending $42 million against him in the election. He thanked them for providing him with the opportunity to defeat them twice. The Senator-elect accused critics of expressing hatred simply for advocating that Palestinian children should grow up in their ancestral homeland without being harmed by tax dollars.

El-Sayed emphasized that he wants his tax dollars spent on schools, healthcare, and infrastructure within the United States, not on apartheid, genocide, or war. As a public health administrator, he stated that believing in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination is not hate but love.

Despite receiving last-minute support from Rep. Haley Stevens for Mike Rogers, who he had previously defeated in the Democratic primary, El-Sayed emerged victorious in the closely contested race. The 42-year-old epidemiologist campaigned on universal healthcare, economic populism, civil rights, and called for an end to US military aid to Israel, arguing that taxpayer money should be directed towards domestic needs such as education and healthcare.