El-Sayed and Rogers clash on gas prices and Canada tariffs
In Grand Rapids, El-Sayed and Rogers traded barbs over gas prices, Iran and tariffs in the first Michigan Senate debate, per NBC News and PBS.
By
Nolan Pierce
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers faced each other in Grand Rapids on Thursday, October 8, in the first of two planned debates for Michigan’s open Senate seat. Gas prices, the war in Iran and tariffs on Canadian trade dominated the evening, and the tone was often sour.
In brief
- Mike Rogers faced each other in Grand Rapids on Thursday, October 8, in the first of two planned debates for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
- Rogers, who once backed the president’s push, put out an ad this week urging that the trade war stop.
- PBS NewsHour adds some context on the state of the race:
A debate that kept boiling over
The event was hosted by WOOD, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids. According to NBC News, the sniping got so sharp that moderator Rick Albin urged both men to rein in their attacks. At one point he interjected: “I’d like to be a part of the debate, too.”
Real estate became a recurring jab. Each candidate taunted the other over property, with Rogers needled about his Florida house and El-Sayed about holdings of his wife in the UAE.
Both also tried to define the other early. El-Sayed cast Rogers as a timid follower of President Donald Trump who has changed course out of political necessity. Rogers described El-Sayed as a “con man” whose promises could not be paid for without higher taxes or other costs.
Gas prices, tariffs and a shifting Republican stance
Albin opened by asking whether each candidate would support suspending the federal tax on gasoline, with fuel prices high and tied to the conflict with Iran. Both said yes. El-Sayed used the answer to attack his opponent over the war in Iran, saying Rogers had been its loudest cheerleader from the start. Rogers, who first supported the war, has recently said he wants it over quickly.
Rogers answered by turning to El-Sayed’s backing of “Medicare for All.” In his telling, such a policy would push people off private coverage they may prefer, while raising taxes and gas prices. “We cannot afford Abdul,” he said.
Tariffs came next, and they matter in Michigan because the state borders Canada and trades with it. Last month, new Trump tariffs took effect, with rates between 15% and 50% on $20 billion of American goods shipped north. Rogers, who once backed the president’s push, put out an ad this week urging that the trade war stop. During the debate he said he phoned the White House and spoke with the secretary of commerce about a deal, adding that Canada also has some high duties that ought to be removed.
El-Sayed countered by recalling Rogers’ earlier support and by citing a study of what the tariffs have cost Michigan households. He said the state is paying $5,600 a year for Canadian tariff policy and argued that his rival’s change of course came from sagging poll numbers, not from policy.
Where the candidates differ
| Issue | El-Sayed | Rogers |
|---|---|---|
| Federal gas tax | Would support a pause | Would support a pause |
| Iran war | Says Rogers has cheered it on from the start | Initially supported it; said in September it needed to end quickly |
| Canada tariffs | Says Michigan pays $5,600 a year for the policy | Once backed them; now wants the trade war to end |
| Immigration enforcement | Has called for abolishing ICE | Called this year’s Minneapolis operation “probably not appropriate” |
On immigration, Albin asked Rogers whether the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown had at any point overreached. NBC reports that Rogers pointed to this year’s operation in Minneapolis, in which federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens. He recalled doing fugitive raids as an FBI agent in Chicago, where the aim was to go in quietly and leave the neighborhood with fewer problems, and said federal agents could have acted differently.
El-Sayed was pressed on his criticism of Israel and on an earlier NewsNation interview in which he declined to say whether Israel or Iran is the bigger threat to the United States. He again would not give a direct answer and called it a “ridiculous hypothetical.” He described Israel as an “ostensible ally” that, in his words, lobbied for war with Iran, and said he does not want the country pushed into a conflict. He would rather see money spent on schools, healthcare and childcare at home.
What is at stake in the race
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is not seeking re-election, and the result could help decide which party controls the Senate. Republicans, who have not won a Senate seat in the state since 1994, have tried to cast El-Sayed as an extremist. He is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and he took the Democratic nomination over Rep. Haley Stevens with a margin below one point, after several primary debates.
Rogers had no primary opponent on Aug. 4, so this was his first debate since the Senate contest two years earlier against Elissa Slotkin, which she took by a margin under 20,000 votes. The general election is on Nov. 3.
The campaign has also grown personal. On Wednesday night, Trump wrote on Truth Social about El-Sayed, referring to him as “Mohammed.” According to PBS and the Associated Press, El-Sayed replied that the president knows his name: “He says it every day.” At a Thursday lunch event with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, he said that “my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford a tank of gas.”
Campaign dynamics ahead of the second debate
PBS NewsHour adds some context on the state of the race:
- El-Sayed is outspent on advertising by close to two to one and has traveled across the state. Of Rogers he said: “We are running to win the race. He’s running not to lose the race.”
- Rogers has made fewer public appearances, with outside groups paying for much of the advertising. His next stop, on Friday in Oakland County, was set to include Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
- El-Sayed appeared Thursday with Whitmer, their first time together since Whitmer backed Stevens during the nomination fight.
