Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed accused his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, of compromising his masculinity to appease President Donald Trump, saying in sharply personal terms that the candidate doesn’t know how to be a real man.
“He’s been a beta his whole life,” El-Sayed said during an appearance on this week’s On NOTUS. “He’s a guy who shows up to laugh extra loud at the alpha’s jokes. And that’s what he does with Donald Trump, right? Donald Trump’s out here, he says, ‘Mike, jump.’ And Mike says, ‘How high?’”
Rogers, the Democrat added, has “never seen a command from a stronger man that he doesn’t want to take.”
“If Mike Rogers is your image of masculinity, good luck,” @AbdulElSayed tells @Alex_Roarty.
— NOTUS (@NOTUSreports) September 1, 2026
The Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan criticized the GOP and shared his vision for American masculinity.
Watch/listen to the full interview Wednesday. https://t.co/o5zD4wRhHI pic.twitter.com/JToNX0orw4
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El-Sayed faces Rogers in one of the marquee races of the midterm election. Michigan hasn’t elected a Republican senator in more than 30 years but backed Trump in 2024. Republicans have aggressively targeted Michigan after El-Sayed won his party’s competitive primary earlier this month, believing that his unabashedly progressive politics put it in play even amid a difficult political climate for the GOP nationally.
El-Sayed, a former public health official, has sought to portray himself as a progressive champion who can still appeal to young Republican-leaning men, touting his high school football career and love of the University of Michigan’s football team. His campaign against Rogers has increasingly turned into a masculinity contest — last month, he challenged Rogers to a “no pads” face-off on a football field. It’s a theme across Senate races this year: Republican Ken Paxton has suggested his opponent in Texas’ Senate race, Democrat James Talarico, has low testosterone.
In the interview with NOTUS, El-Sayed laid out a conception of masculinity that he set as an alternative to conservative masculinity, including the views articulated by Trump.
“These very small men have tried to make masculinity about punching down. I believe that masculinity is about lifting up, whether you’re lifting a weight or you’re lifting people around you.”
A Rogers spokesperson dismissed El-Sayed’s criticism.
“While Abdul slings elementary insults, Mike Rogers is focused on fixing our elementary schools,” said Alyssa Brouillet, a Rogers campaign spokesperson. “We have a state to save.”
The entire On NOTUS interview with El-Sayed will be released on Wednesday.
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