Rogers, a former congressman and FBI agent, was seeking his first Senate term with the backing of President Donald Trump. El-Sayed ran on Medicare for All, lower costs for working families, removing corporate money from politics and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. He claimed victory at the state Democratic headquarters in Detroit, crediting a grassroots movement that had worked for about a year and a half. "You chose hate, and Michigan chose hope," he said.

The race was bitter from the August primary onward. El-Sayed beat Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate and pro-Israel Democrat, in a narrow win, with the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC spending heavily against him; the reported figure ranges from $30 million to $42 million. Days before the general election, Stevens endorsed Rogers after a dispute over aid to Israel. El-Sayed said he raised $1.2 million within four hours of that endorsement.

Trump called El-Sayed a "jihadist" and a "communist," and in other remarks a "violent terrorist." Vice President JD Vance called him a "psychopath." Campaign mailers claimed he would bring "sharia law" to Michigan and had ties to terrorists. The Michigan Republican Party said he offered "safe harbor to terrorists," citing his remark after the attack on the Temple Israel synagogue that "hurt people hurt people." Some Republicans tried to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood using decade-old writings, and no evidence has been presented linking him to the group. Opponents also said he refused to condemn an antisemitic campaign ad.

Nazita Lajevardi, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, called it the "most egregious and most bigoted Islamophobic campaign" she had seen, and noted that Republican elites pushed back little. In the Detroit area, a survey of roughly 30 voters found five who cited El-Sayed's faith as a reason to back Rogers. Most of the rest dismissed the attacks as distractions from economic concerns. In Dearborn, which has a large Arab American community, business owner Imad Soofi said anti-Muslim hostility had risen since Trump began targeting El-Sayed.

In his victory speech, El-Sayed mocked Vance, who as vice president is "constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January," calling it "delicious irony." He also mocked AIPAC and said, "We don't want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war," arguing that tax money should go to "schools, health care and infrastructure." He has questioned military assistance to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan as well, saying such funding strengthens military dictatorships.

In an interview, El-Sayed said Trump had announced plans to end roughly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel by the end of 2026, and that "the president is actually right on this policy." The United States currently provides Israel $3.8 billion a year under an agreement that runs through 2028. El-Sayed also acknowledged he has work to do with some Jewish and Black voters in Michigan: "There's always more work to do. There's always more to build. There's always more conversations to have."

The win prompted celebrations among Arab and Muslim communities in the United States and the Middle East. In Egypt, reaction was mixed: many welcomed his criticism of Israel, while others were angered by his criticism of U.S. aid to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government and by a remark that he might have become a taxi driver had his father not emigrated. Rapper Macklemore, who has called for a free Palestine at his concerts, endorsed El-Sayed on Instagram on Election Day with a photograph captioned "Today is the day Michigan." El-Sayed is scheduled to be sworn in in January 2027.