Michigan Senate Debate Erupts Into Crosstalk as Rogers, El-Sayed Spar Over Weapons for Israel

The first of two planned debates in the Michigan Senate race was mired in constant crosstalk, interruptions, and personal attacks as the moderator struggled to keep the discussion on topic.

In the debate, hosted by WOOD TV8/NewsNation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Oct. 8, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed go head-to-head for the first time as both seek to win over voters in the final weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

While both candidates lay out their positions on topics including rising gas prices, the Iran war, data centers, mass surveillance, and housing affordability, cross-talk and interruptions dominated the evening.

Moderator Rick Albin struggled to maintain order.

“Look, here’s the situation. We’ve got dozens of questions we want to get to. You can’t litigate all of these with 14 different rebuttals. So please work with me. I want you to say what you want to say. Do it within the body of an answer, and we’ll try to move along,” Albin said roughly 18 minutes into the debate.

When Albin asked El-Sayed if he would support sending defensive weapons to Israel following a hypothetical attack within its borders, Rogers interrupted and said, “I’ll answer the question. Absolutely, he won’t.”

Stepping in to stop the cross-talk, Albin said, “We cannot do this for every question.”

El-Sayed had said he doesn’t support using tax dollars to buy weapons for any foreign nation, including Israel.

Minutes prior, Albin asked Rogers if there’s any action by the Israeli government that would cause the former congressman to stop supporting sending U.S. military assistance.

“Pretty hypothetical question. I support just staunchly their right to exist, the right to exist for the Jewish state, and the right to defend itself in a very difficult neighborhood,” Rogers replied. “Listen, if they’re talking about using nuclear weapons, I would—they would definitely lose my support. I’ve never heard them say that, though.”

Albin asked both candidates at the outset of the debate if they would support pausing the federal gas tax in the current economic climate, and what each would advocate for to lower fuel prices. Both said yes to pausing the federal gas tax, but diverged on their diagnoses of the problem.

“There is one thing that is actually causing this. It’s the war in Iran, a war that has been cheerled by my opponent since the beginning. Called it a ‘win, win, win,’” El-Sayed said. “If we don’t stop this war, we don’t stop it now, we’re going to continue to watch as the Iranian regime chokeholds the Strait of Hormuz, making our energy prices higher.”

The Democrat added that he would also hold oil and gas corporations “who are using this moment to profiteer us” accountable.

Rogers criticized Michigan Democrats for not backing a $0.50 state gas tax cut and said their Republican cohorts tried to “give drivers a break.” He also said he supports a temporary pause on U.S. diesel exports.

“We can resume that once the war comes to an end. I do believe it’s going to come to an end. We need it to come to an end,” Rogers said.

Rogers, who had previously expressed strong support for Trump’s tariff policies, has recently pivoted to criticizing the president’s trade war with Canada. In a video ad released on Wednesday, Rogers said, “Prices are too high, and Canada is not our enemy.”

Asked by Albin if this means he wants to eliminate all tariffs on Canada, Rogers said he would like to see a deal made and has discussed this with the White House.

“Canada still has some high tariffs for U.S. goods, and they did it before this started. Those should be eliminated. There are tariffs that I think are too high and not helpful for us. We ought to get rid of those,” Rogers said.

In response to a similar question, El-Sayed said he would support the type of targeted “smart tariffs” that the United Auto Workers (UAW) union has suggested.

“The UAW has advocated for smart tariffs, where we actually hook it to an industrial policy that makes sense. We’re invested in high growth, high manufacturing capacities, and then we use tariffs to protect our own market,” El-Sayed said.

Current polling has mostly kept the candidates neck and neck in the final weeks of the race. El-Sayed has led by as much as 7 percentage points in some polls, and as little as one percentage point in recent surveys from YouGov and Quantus Insights.

He currently leads Rogers by 3.2 percentage points in RealClearPolitics polling average.

Progressive populist El-Sayed’s platform includes Medicare For All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement in favor of returning to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and ending U.S. military support for Israel and other foreign nations.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, served in the House for 14 years after representing Michigan’s 26th district in the state Senate. He has described his platform as “common sense” politics, criticizing El-Sayed as too “extreme” for Michigan.