El-Sayed’s Senate win breaks barriers for Arab Americans in Michigan

Zaynah Jadallah was hoping to hear one specific word in Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed’s victory speech.

For months, he said on the campaign trail that “Inshaallah” he would be elected, using the Arabic term for “God willing.” Jadallah wanted to hear “Alhamdulillah,” which translates to “praise be to God.”

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, she did.

“He kept saying ‘God willing,’ ‘God willing when we win,’” said Jadallah, a 26-year-old Palestinian American who lives in Dearborn.

“And now, he praised the Lord that he did.”

El-Sayed, a former public health official and Democrat, will become the nation's first Muslim senator.

Arab Americans in Michigan and across the U.S. celebrated his win, many saying it was a balm after a bitter, divisive primary that saw a surge of Islamophobic rhetoric.

“We just broke a huge barrier. It's a message for every single person in any minority, whether you're Black, whether you’re Hispanic, whether you’re Arab, whether you’re Muslim, whether you’re Jewish, that this country has a place for you,” said Chadi Abdulrazek (CHA’-dee AHB’-dool-RAZ’-ehk), a 43-year-old business owner from Dearborn Heights.

Muslim voters, who make up only about 2% of voters in Michigan, overwhelmingly voted for El-Sayed.

About nine in 10 Michigan Senate voters who are Muslim cast their ballots for him.

That’s according to The AP Voter Poll survey of more than 4,500 Michigan voters.

El-Sayed also did well with voters of Arab or Middle Eastern descent in the state, with about seven in 10 voting for him.

Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation with Dearborn at the heart of the community.

“Regardless of the direction in which he prays, they're sending him to the U.S. Senate because of the directions in which he leads,” said Abdullah Hammoud, the Democratic mayor of Dearborn.

“And that is so beautifully American.”