The topic came up during a heated exchange in their latest debate.

El-Sayed was asked a pointed question from the moderator about Israel and Iran: "Who do you think is a bigger threat to the United States, Israel or Iran?"

El-Sayed wouldn't answer it. "I'm just going to say that that's a ridiculous hypothetical," El-Sayed responded.

The moderator pressed him again, saying, "I'll ask one last time. Israel or Iran?"

El-Sayed didn't budge and went even further. "That's again a ridiculous question. I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way."

Meanwhile, Rogers leveled his own charges against El-Sayed. "He's taken money from groups associated (with) and support the Muslim Brotherhood. He has taken money from individuals on his campaign who openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda," Rogers said.

Those heated exchanges lay out what to expect ahead. El-Sayed, a Muslim, paints Rogers as a war-mongering neocon with a penchant for foreign military intervention.

Meanwhile, Rogers is trying to win over Jewish voters who typically vote for Democrats. His laundry list of charges against El-Sayed includes his questioning of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, an alliance with controversial antisemite Hasan Piker, opposition to all U.S. aid to Israel, and his family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Dennis Bernard, who is with the Jewish Federation of North America here in Michigan, tells CBN News the unease is real.

"Our Jewish community here in Michigan is concerned," he says. "With El-Sayed, Mamdani and others, there is a wave of tremendous antisemitism, or, if you will, Western culture. And he's on the leading edge of it."

While Bernard is not a Republican, he's organizing Jewish Democrat support for Rogers and seeing success. "In my lifetime of being involved in politics, I've never seen where you're going to see a shift for at least one particular candidate in one particular vote, shift from one party candidate to another," Bernard said. "It is tangible and it's real."

Jews in Michigan are a minority, at about 1%, or roughly 130,000 people. Given how close this race is expected to be, a large turnout of Jewish voters could put Rogers over the top. Two years ago, he ran for the Senate and only lost by 20,000 votes.

One of the key areas will be West Bloomfield, Michigan, where there are a lot of Jewish residents. It's going to be key in a very close Michigan Senate race. What grabbed the attention of residents here was an antisemitic terrorist attack at Temple Israel in their own backyard in West Bloomfield. This has become personal for them. It became even more so after El-Sayed initially brushed off the incident, saying, "Hurt people, hurt people."

There are Jews in Michigan determined to make a difference in this upcoming election. Born in Israel, G. Shimon Levy now lives here in Detroit. As a dual citizen, he's trying to make sure El-Sayed, whom he calls a charismatic socialist, never makes it to Washington.

When I asked him if he believes El-Sayed is an antisemite or practicing or dabbling in antisemitism, he didn't hesitate. "I do," Levy responded.

But for Levy, it goes even beyond that. "I'm less concerned about El-Sayed," he says. "I'm more concerned about what El-Sayed represents. El-Sayed represents a momentum, an energy that I feel is all in the wrong places. Whether it pertains to Jews, whether it pertains to America, whether it pertains to our values, just the baseline of what is acceptable," Levy said.

Longtime Michigan resident Benji Rosenzweig feels what El-Sayed says isn't acceptable at all.

"Obviously the Jewish community has alarm bells going off," Rosenzweig tells CBN News. "The Jewish community is holding up a neon sign and saying the things that you're saying, Abdul, are putting our families in danger. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

Rosenzweig also takes issue with El-Sayed's approach to campaign financing. "When he says, I'm going to take money out of politics, he doesn't mean that. What he means is I'm going to take Jewish-supporting money out of politics. He's going to attack AIPAC. AIPAC is the 94th largest PAC in America."

Meanwhile, in Dearborn, which is in essence a Muslim-majority city in America, Abdul El-Sayed is going to need a lot of Muslims to turn out for him in what is considered to be a very tight election. A small minority, Michigan Muslims also measure about 1%, but while Jews number around 130,000, Muslims are almost double that, at about 250,000.

Dearborn Muslim Nagi Almudhegi voted for Trump in 2024, but he tells CBN News the Iran war has changed the equation. "The vast majority of Muslims, and of Dearborn in general, are going to vote against the Republicans en masse, and it's because at the top level people are just sick and tired of spending the hundreds of billions of dollars overseas while we're struggling at home."

El-Sayed is also making a personal pitch to Muslim voters, greeting them in Arabic in certain video messages: "As-salamu alaykum. This is your brother Abdul El-Sayed...I know this community, our community can play a critical role. I need your support." The group Muslims for Abdul is also active here, knocking on doors consistently.

However, El-Sayed is also receiving support from the more radical fringe. While in Dearborn, we ran into a man, the owner of a truck that speaks for itself, complete with a Hamas license plate and decked out in anti-Israel rhetoric and Palestinian flags. When I asked him if supports Abdul El-Sayed, he didn't hesitate. "Yes I do, yes I do. I support the man because the man is not a Zionist. He won't take AIPAC money. He won't take money from the Zionists. He ispeoplefunded. I trust this man," he responded.

To be clear, this race will likely hinge on various factors, including the union vote, suburban moms, the African-American vote and independents. In a race where Israel has grabbed both headlines and emotions, however, the Muslim and Jewish vote sits in a critical space with a lot on the line.

Jews in Michigan, like Dennis Bernard and others tell me they're ready to fight. "This is for my family, for other families," Bernard tells CBN News. "This is personal. This is deeply personal. For the first time in 67 years, I'm feeling unwelcome in America." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

David Brody is a thirty-four-year veteran of the television industry and currently serves as Chief Political Analyst for CBN News. He's interviewed many prominent national figures across the political spectrum during his time at the Christian Broadcasting Network, including former President Donald Trump. 

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