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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author<\/a> of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Abdul El-Sayed handily<\/span> defeated Republican Mike Rogers for Senate in Michigan early Wednesday morning, retaining Democratic control of the seat and solidifying the party\u2019s Senate majority. To become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, the former public health official overcame rampant, bipartisan Islamophobia and bigotry. For the country, and the Democrats, to move forward, we must cast it out of public life forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Michigan Democrat\u2019s victory<\/a> felt almost like an afterthought compared to the upset Senate victories won by Democrats in South Carolina and Texas<\/a>. The 2026 midterms were a referendum on President Donald Trump and his control of the GOP, and voters delivered their verdict, turning control of both houses of Congress over to the opposition party.\u00a0<\/p>\n But we should neither forget nor forgive how we got here. El-Sayed faced<\/a> an uphill battle<\/a> from the beginning<\/a>, which included a protracted, venomous primary<\/a>, and the call was often coming from inside the house<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n No detractor was as vicious as his former primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens, whose eleventh-hour betrayal of her party\u2019s nominee \u2014 she formally switched her endorsement<\/a> to Rogers on Sunday \u2014 was a transparent attempt to turn the seat red.<\/p>\n Backlash was swift and harsh and came from all corners of the party. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the powerful leader of the Senate who has made little secret of his disagreements with El-Sayed on Israel, called Stevens\u2019s actions \u201ca despicable betrayal<\/a>.\u201d Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who finished third in the primary, went as far as to express personal concern<\/a> for Stevens.\u00a0<\/p>\n And Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just days after implying<\/a> El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani were antisemites for opposing ethno-supremacy in Israel, said<\/a> Stevens chose \u201cto dangerously betray Michigan families\u2019 healthcare, freedoms, and future with her horrific endorsement of Mike Rogers.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the 48 hours-plus since she threw in with Rogers \u2014 which increasingly seems like it was motivated primarily out of spite when she was boxed out of a Sunday campaign event with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., in Detroit \u2014 Stevens embarked on a media tour of justification that got weirder and weirder.<\/p>\n A 15-minute, rambling<\/a> interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Sunday night didn\u2019t provide insight into her motivations, or much else; on Monday evening, Stevens followed up with a long statement<\/a> posted on X owning the decision to destroy her political career with the Democratic Party. She also denied that her fianc\u00e9, political donor Jason Turkish, played any role in the endorsement: \u201cI made this decision, and I am proud of it. Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n Congressional staffers to Stevens resigned<\/a> en masse on Sunday, and former campaign aides told<\/a> the Washington Post that they had to run defense to keep Turkish \u2014 who had endorsed Rogers before Stevens did \u2014 out of the spotlight and marginalize his influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny campaign staff being directly quoted in this article, I was made miserable by working with them,\u201d Stevens told the Post in response, adding, \u201cI have nothing else to say about the campaign at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n But a singular explanation of Stevens\u2019s decision lets Democrats off the hook far too easily for the anti-El-Sayed campaign<\/a> waged by leaders in the House and Senate. For the party to move forward after the midterms, the Democrats need to take a hard look in the mirror and purge institutionalized Islamophobia<\/a> from their ranks.\u00a0<\/p>\n They can start with their friends in the media<\/a>. The Atlantic\u2019s Jonathan Chait, in a screed<\/a> published Sunday, whined that \u201cduring the same period of time that El-Sayed has been winking at a political movement inflected with anti-Semitism, he has been targeted by a political message that is not merely inflected with racism but saturated with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n We should get ready for a long overdue, but almost certainly painful, intraparty debate on how Democrats policed dissent in their own ranks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Political commentator Van Jones noted on X<\/a> ahead of Election Day that \u201cthe Republicans are conducting a campaign of blatant anti-Muslim fear mongering.\u201d But in the same post, he also argued El-Sayed\u2019s \u201crefusal to outright denounce\u201d a little-seen ad<\/a> produced by an outside PAC \u2014 an ad which El-Sayed distanced himself and his campaign from \u2014 tying the rise of grocery costs to U.S. support for Israel was comparable.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething is going horribly wrong in the Senate race in Michigan,\u201d Jones added huffily. \u201cAnd I am going to keep calling it out.\u201d<\/p>\n After last night\u2019s massive blue wave, it should be undeniable that the left<\/a> was a major factor<\/a> in flipping the House and Senate. That means the party\u2019s progressive wing can now credibly claim a seat at the governing table without compromising on domestic or foreign policy. We should get ready for a long overdue, but almost certainly painful, intraparty debate on how Democrats policed dissent<\/a> in their own ranks in this election, and how to disentangle leadership from unconditional support for Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n