Arab and Muslim Americans bask in joy over Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan primary win

From Michigan to the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims are celebrating what many see as a long-overdue victory for their community with the win of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary.

Though it will likely be an even tougher road for the campaign in the months ahead of the general election, when he will face his Republican opponent Mike Rogers, a long-marginalised community is nevertheless taking a moment to celebrate what many consider a long-overdue win.

"What a message this sends. We're already looking forward to what this means in November," Sirine Abou Chakra, a native of Dearborn who attended the University of Michigan with El-Sayed, told The New Arab the morning after election day, when the narrow race was finally called.

"This is the most hopeful we've felt in years. The work doesn't stop. Mike Rogers is already coming with negative ads about Abdul's background," she said.

She added, "I just spoke with my mom in Lebanon today. Whether it's Lebanon or Egypt, this is a race not just affecting Michigan."

For James Zogby, a veteran pollster and president of the Arab American Institute, the election of El-Sayed is the culmination of decades of work with the Democratic Party trying to develop a more inclusive and representative coalition for Arabs and Muslims.

"Abdul El-Sayed's win is a watershed moment in US politics," said Zogby. "He defeated dark money. He showed that Israel and their lobby could be publicly debated and defeated."

Zogby continued, "His progressive agenda won out over the more centrist establishment’s ideas. And he made it clear that the much maligned Arab American community could organise and win."

El-Sayed, a 41-year-old Egyptian American doctor and former government public health director, made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Muslim to win a major party’s primary for US Senate.

He also made history by winning in the most expensive Democratic senate primary race to date, as he faced Representative Haley Stevens, who was backed by tens of millions of dollars in political action committee (PAC) contributions, largely by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

El-Sayed campaigned on a platform of Medicare for All (universal healthcare), affordability and getting money out of politics. And, importantly for many people with ties to the Middle East, he has called Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide and has called for an end to unconditional US aid to Israel.

"I think for a lot of Arabs, Muslims and progressives, three years of genocide sucked the air out of the room," said Abou Chakra. "Today is the first time in a long time that they're part of the system again. Hope can be reignited at a time when people need it."

It was an uphill climb for the progressive candidate without a history of holding public office and without endorsements from the Democratic Party establishment leaders.

Nevertheless, El-Sayed was able to draw on his experience as executive director of Detroit's health department and director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services; he received strong endorsements from progressive leaders, namely Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; and he was able to tap into an energised Arab and Muslim community that went decisively for him in the primary.

In some of the predominantly Arab and Muslim cities in southeastern Michigan, El-Sayed’s victory was overwhelming—beating Stevens nearly 80 to 20 in Dearborn and Hamtramck, showing that community voter turnout made a clear difference in this election.

This is "proof of a community whose political strength has been consistently underestimated and a sign that the work reaches well beyond any single race," Basim Elkarra, an advisor with the Unity and Justice Fund, a PAC for Arab and Muslim voter engagement, said in a public statement the day after the election.

"He won because Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, and allied voters turned out. That is our community's power, and it is exactly the power that AIPAC and other war mongers have spent years trying to convince us we do not have," said Elkarra.