A bitter Michigan Senate race rattles Jewish and Muslim voters already on edge over the war in Gaza

Michigan’s closely contested Senate race has become deeply personal for some voters

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. -- For many voters in Michigan, the U.S. Senate race has become about far more than which party controls Washington .

In the Detroit suburbs, some Jewish Democrats are confronting deeply personal questions about faith and identity as they weigh whether they can support their party’s nominee . Just miles away in Dearborn, Arab American leaders who backed President Donald Trump two years ago are growing increasingly alarmed by Republican rhetoric .

The concerns are rippling through communities already shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza . Now they are central players in the bitter open-seat race between Republican Mike Rogers , a onetime congressman, and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed , a former public health official who would be the country’s first Muslim senator if elected on Nov. 3.

Rogers has increasingly portrayed El-Sayed as an extremist and a threat to Jewish voters as the Republican tries to win over a traditionally Democratic constituency. Rogers laughed when a visiting Republican senator said El-Sayed slept in an Osama bin Laden jersey, and he agreed with a social media post calling El-Sayed a terrorist.

In West Bloomfield, a synagogue recovering from an attack this year is only a half-hour drive from the “Wall of Tears” in downtown Dearborn memorializing children killed in Gaza.

The race has even divided close friends like Lori Goldman and Mimi Price-Miletic.

Goldman, a Jewish Democratic activist, described Rogers' message as "a fear campaign.”

“It’s spreading and it’s not spreading slowly," she said. "It’s spreading insidiously and widely and effectively.”

Price-Miletic, a member of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, sees things differently. She is not supporting El-Sayed and has not ruled out voting for Rogers.

“Lori Goldman is my best friend,” said Price-Miletic. “This summer I said we cannot discuss Abdul. I don’t want to hear his name. We’ve agreed to disagree and we don’t talk about it.”

Central to Rogers’ strategy has been winning over Jewish voters after the fierce Democratic primary between El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in which Israel became a focal point.

Stevens, one of Israel's staunchest supporters in Congress, benefited from roughly $30 million in spending by groups affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

Stevens represents much of Oakland County, just north of Detroit and home to a significant portion of Michigan’s Jewish population. Rogers has focused heavily on the area and is holding an event later in October with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that's billed as “Who Will Keep Us Safe? Rogers vs. El-Sayed in the Wake of October 7th and the Temple Israel Attack.”