El-Sayed Forced To Debate Empty Podium After Republican Dodges

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed skewered his political rival, Republican candidate Mike Rogers, for dodging a FOX 2 debate on Tuesday, describing him as a coward who failed to show up for the state’s voters.

“Last week, Mike Rogers took the time to go to Dallas, to give a speech at a convention held in the interest of Donald Trump, but he didn’t have the time to spend an hour with us here in Detroit,” El-Sayed said. “And it tells you everything about who he is and what his priorities are.”

“I also think it’s important to realize that the individual who I’m running against did not have the respect to come here and to show you the respect enough of taking your hard questions,” El-Sayed added. “...I have the courage enough to actually show up and have the conversation that is supposed to be the substrate of our democracy.”

FOX 2

“It tells you who he is,” El-Sayed said in a post-debate statement to reporters. “He’s a coward.”

In a last-minute release on Tuesday, Rogers’ campaign said he declined to attend the debate because of alleged concerns about “media bias,” citing comments FOX 2 moderator Roop Raj had previously made about El-Sayed.

“Michiganders deserve to see their candidates engage in a healthy, fair debate — not one compromised by media bias,” Alyssa Brouillet, Rogers’ communications director, stated. “Roop Raj has made his position clear, from praising Abdul as ‘brilliant,’ to being celebrated by Hasan Piker as ‘my GOAT,’ and bragging about his political stunts. Mike looks forward to making his case to working families and to making Abdul answer to voters for the conman he is.”

Rogers plans to attend two other debates hosted by different media outlets.

Raj responded to Rogers’ campaign in remarks on “Good Day Detroit” Tuesday.

“Nothing we do at this station is trying to take a side,” Raj said. “We ask tough questions about Republicans and Democrats each and every night on our political talk show, ‘The Pulse.’ But as you can imagine, the narrative is the narrative. And for whatever reason, the Rogers camp did not want to do a debate with FOX 2.”

El-Sayed stood alongside an empty podium during the event, which FOX 2 included onstage in case Rogers changed his mind.

FOX 2

El-Sayed repeatedly raised the Republican’s absence during the debate.

“I wish he was here to talk about it. I really wish he was,” El-Sayed said, in response to a question regarding the regulation of data centers.

“Well, I appreciate the Libertarian candidate has now participated more than the Republican candidate has in this debate,” El-Sayed also quipped when the moderator took a question submitted by an unnamed Libertarian Senate candidate.

Beyond the broadsides against Rogers, El-Sayed addressed other issues, including his support for Medicare for all, his ties to progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and his stance on military aid to Israel.

“The same people who talk about ‘America First’ are perfectly fine sending our taxpayer dollars to foreign governments, and it’s not just Israel that I believe we should not be funding unconditionally. It’s Egypt, where my family immigrated from. It’s Pakistan. It’s Saudi Arabia. They should not be getting unconditional military aid,” El-Sayed said.