GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — U.S. Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed clashed repeatedly in an insult-laden, messy Oct. 8 debate rife with constant interruptions, sharp accusations, and even some trash-talking, with both men trying to ensure no jab went unanswered.

The barbs began within minutes, with each accusing one another of profiting off connections made while in public office, and ran the gamut of attacks from outside groups and the campaign trail:

El-Sayed flagged Rogers' home in Florida, called him weak, cowardly and suggested he's out for self-enrichment. Rogers said El-Sayed isn't a real doctor, compared him to a "glitchy, AI chatbot" and suggested members of the Egyptian American candidate's family were on terror watch lists.

The forum devolved to the level where El-Sayed pointedly accused Rogers, the former seven-term congressman, of crossing a schoolyard line: "Are you going after my mom?"

Rogers claimed that, while his own mother worked for a local chamber of commerce, El-Sayed's worked for a group once accused of funneling money for terror groups.

"He wants this to be about anything but his own record," El-Sayed said. "Going after my mom, my sister. Got nothing to actually say about me."

WOOD-TV moderator Rick Albin voiced frustration with the constant verbal jousting between El-Sayed and Rogers and repeatedly tried to rein in the candidates’ squabbling: “I’d like to be part of the debate, too," he said at one point.

After a commercial break, Albin said that, "in 30 years of doing debates, I’ve never seen it continue during the commercial. But it did.”

Adrian Hemond, a Democrat and a political consultant with the firm Grassroots Midwest, said both candidates at the debate had a “shameful performance” because they disrespected the moderator and pivoted to attacking one another.

El-Sayed didn’t answer questions directly, and Rogers appeared to be grasping for his lines, Hemond said.

“If there were undecided voters watching that, I think they’re less likely to vote now,” Hemond said.

Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said overall the event was reminiscent of the tone of debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential contest. Rogers seemed nervous at the beginning but gained his footing and went toe-to-toe with El-Sayed, Kall said.

El-Sayed was able to repeatedly bring the discussion back to Trump, the Iran war, gas prices and his desire to make it about voters, Kall said. However, El-Sayed couldn’t fully stay with the idea that the debate should be focused on voters because he criticized Rogers frequently as Rogers criticized him.

“He just couldn’t totally resist,” Kall said.

After the debate, El-Sayed acknowledged that viewers might not have gotten much insight into the policy differences at the center of the candidates' campaigns. Rogers doesn’t want to talk about policy, El-Sayed said.

“How many times was he talking about all kinds of things that had nothing to do with your gas prices, your grocery prices, the ability to see a doctor?” El-Sayed asked reporters outside the station.

“They think they can point to my name and say a bunch of scary words and that people are going to forget that they pay too much for gas and groceries, that they can’t see a doctor,” El-Sayed added later.

Rogers said it was El-Sayed who’s a “lightweight on policy.”

Asked to compare running against El-Sayed to running against U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, his 2024 Senate opponent, Rogers said Slotkin was “at least policy savvy.”

“Maybe, it’s just that he’s a rote candidate, says the same thing over and over every answer,” Rogers said after the debate.

Twenty-six days before Election Day, Thursday was the first time that El-Sayed and Rogers have squared off in a televised debate. A second is scheduled for Oct. 21 in Detroit. The Michigan race could determine control of the U.S. Senate for the last two years of President Donald Trump's term.

The Detroit News rounded up and decoded some of the debate's most memorable insults and exchanges:

Rogers suggests El-Sayed family member on terror watch list

The back-and-forth about the candidates' mothers came after a question about whether there should be guardrails on AI-enabled Flock cameras that capture the backs of vehicles and their license plates. Both supported limits but didn't stop there.

El-Sayed accused Rogers of endorsing a surveillance state during his time chairing the House Intelligence panel, to which Rogers said his opponent "just doesn't understand the national security infrastructure, so he's trying to jumble it all up on people."

"Those programs were really, really important in catching people who were suspected of terrorists and being terrorists, committing a terrorist act," Rogers said. "And why would that bother you? Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the watch list ―"

"Are you calling ― are you going to go ahead and say that I'm a ...? Go ahead and say it," El-Sayed interjected, attempting to goad Rogers into calling him a terrorist.

"Did you not have family on ...?" Rogers said amid crosstalk.

"Say it. Say it," El-Sayed urged.

"No, I haven't been —" Rogers said.

"Do you know why? Because of your policies," El-Sayed said.

"That's so wrong," Rogers said.

Rogers went on to contrast his mother's profession with the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce with El-Sayed's, who reportedly worked for the Islamic American/African Relief Agency for five years, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Islamic American Relief Agency, formerly headquartered in Missouri, pleaded guilty in 2016 to illegally transferring $1.4 million to Iraq in violation of economic sanctions, but El-Sayed's mother was never charged with any wrongdoing.

The group was closed in 2004 after being identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist organization, according to the Department of Justice.

'How many yachts do you own?'

Rogers accused El-Sayed ― who has pledged not to accept corporate money ― of benefiting from outside money donated by big companies to Democratic groups, saying that "money is raining down on him" from companies like Pfizer and Google.

El-Sayed interrupted.

"How many yachts do you own? How many yachts?" El-Sayed said, holding up two fingers on his left hand.

Public records show Rogers registered two cabin motorboats in his name in 2015 and 2017 in Maryland that measured 32 feet and 39 feet, respectively, in length. The 39-footer was manufactured by Cruisers Yachts.

El-Sayed continued: "Do you guys know what Telefonica is? It's a corporation he advised that was helping (Venezuelan President) Nicolas Maduro spy on his people. How much money did you make off them?"

The reference was to a Michigan Advance report that Rogers served on an advisory board to a cellphone service provider that admitted in 2022 to collaborating with the Venezuelan government to spy on citizens. Rogers has denied knowledge of the connection between Maduro and Telefonica.

Rogers countered Thursday by bringing up El-Sayed's continuing to take taxpayer-funded checks from Wayne County while he was a candidate after he'd left his role as county's health director in April 2025 to run for U.S. Senate.

"Is this like the deal that you cut with Wayne County, where you took taxpayers' money to run for the United States Senate and, by the way, the woman who replaced him got paid $100,000 less?" Rogers said.

El-Sayed had a consulting contract with the county not to exceed $72,000 that ended Dec. 23, 2025. County spokesman Matt Allen confirmed Wednesday that El-Sayed was paid out the full $72,000 ― the equivalent of $9,000 a month over eight months.

El-Sayed advised the transition to new leadership after his departure and also consulted on the county’s effort to block waste from Manhattan Project cleanup sites in New York from being sent to a hazardous waste landfill in Van Buren Township owned by Wayne Disposal Inc., Allen said.

Albin appealed to the candidates after this exchange: "Guys, I'm going to tell you right now, we've got to stick to our time limits. We've got a lot to cover," he said. "I appreciate your passion, but please, let's try to keep this orderly."

El-Sayed won't answer Israel-Iran question

El-Sayed wouldn’t say, when repeatedly asked, if Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to America and called moderator Albin's question dumb.

"That's, again, a ridiculous question," El-Sayed said. "I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One is at risk of attacking us. One is getting us into wars we have no business fighting."

In explaining his stance, El-Sayed said he doesn't want to be "pushed into war by Israel, and I don't want to be in a war with Iran."

"I want our money spent here to buy schools and health care and child care here," El-Sayed said. "I don't understand why that is so inconceivable."

Rogers was asked about a report that he had asked the pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) not to advertise on his behalf.

"Anybody that wants to help my campaign stop a guy who can't condemn terrorism in our own country because he's so close to the people who are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, again, I'll take all of that help," Rogers said.

"And matter of fact, I think he's a little concerned about the two properties he owns," Rogers said, referencing a rental property in the United Arab Emirates owned in part by El-Sayed's wife. "I think the other one is Egypt, if I'm not mistaken. Can you correct me?"

El-Sayed retorted with a reference to the value of Rogers' home in Florida: "$2.7 million in Florida, my guy. ... Have you sold your yachts?"

"I never owned a yacht in Florida, brother," Rogers said.

Missing Oct. 7 anniversary statement?

Rogers used Wednesday’s anniversary of Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel to rip El-Sayed for not taking time to condemn the atrocities.

“I’ve condemned that,” El-Sayed said repeatedly.

“No, he did not,” Rogers replied as El-Sayed continued to talk.

“I didn’t turn it into political theater like you just did,” El-Sayed added, asking Albin for a chance to respond, which Rogers protested.

“He’s interrupted me for about half of my time,” Rogers said.

“I’m so sorry, but I’m not somebody who tries to make political theater out of other people’s pain,” El-Sayed said. “I gave ample space.”

“Your whole campaign is political theater,” Rogers replied, “... including putting on a white jacket and calling yourself a doctor.”

As they talked over each other, El-Sayed could be heard saying “shameful” as Albin tried to restore order and cut away to the debate’s one commercial break.

After the debate, El-Sayed was asked what occurred while the commercials were playing.

“I was just inviting him to tell me what his real plans were with the home,” El-Sayed told reporters.

'Glitchy AI chatbot'

In an exchange ostensibly about health care and single-payer insurance, Rogers compared El-Sayed to a "glitchy AI chatbot" who says the same thing "over and over and over again."

He accused El-Sayed of taking money from the family of billionaire George Soros and groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and individuals who support Hamas or Hezbollah.

"What we found out is this goes way back. Apparently, they paid for his education at Columbia" University, Rogers said, referring to where El-Sayed earned his medical degree. El-Sayed did not complete a residency after med school and has never been a practicing physician.

El-Sayed accused Rogers of monetizing his time in office, pointing to financial disclosures that show Rogers and his wife's net worth grew by several million dollars after he left office, pointing to Rogers' home in Cape Coral, Florida, which El-Sayed called a "McMansion" (the $2.4 million, 4,750-square-foot waterfront home features a pier, boat lift and lanai-enclosed pool with two hot tubs).

"This guy has not been serious about providing people health care his entire career," El-Sayed said.

Rogers asked in response how a guy with "less than four years of work experience ... owns a luxury property in the United Arab Emirates" ― a reference to a rental property in Dubai owned in part by El-Sayed's wife.

"He's worth a million bucks. Somebody has to tell me how this math works," Rogers said.

El-Sayed on rebuttal said Rogers "wanted to make this about him or me. But the question is about you.

"Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? Under this guy, who's going to rubber-stamp everything Donald Trump tells him to rubber-stamp, you're going to continue to pay way more out the nose because he works for corporations and Donald Trump."

Albin, after this back-and-forth, pointed the candidates to the "dozens" of questions he wanted to get to.

"You can't litigate all of these with 14 different rebuttals," Albin said.

Smack talk about universities

After a question about the national debt, Rogers accused El-Sayed of refusing to explain his proposals, such as taxing billionaires to pay down the debt.

"That's why he does this. Really pretty talk. You learn that in Oxford, I guess — how to talk pretty. But I will tell you what, it's dangerous. They're going to take away your personal health care, and the new cost is $20,000 in new taxes per family," Rogers said, referring to the cost of Medicare For All and El-Sayed getting a doctoral degree from Oxford University.

El-Sayed turned his response into an insult, saying that he learned that talk at the University of Michigan, "where I actually went to school."

"I don't just parade around in the block M," El-Sayed said.

The dig was a reference to Rogers wearing block UM gear in his campaign ads but graduating from Adrian College. Rogers commuted to UM for ROTC, however.

El-Sayed portrays Rogers as a cheerleader for war

Rogers said now “would be the time to wrap” up the war in Iran, which Republican President Donald Trump launched in late February.

“They’ve decimated their army, navy, their air force. They have some limited capability to inflict harm on their neighbors. So … this would be the time to wrap it up,” Rogers said.

Rogers, who previously voiced support for military action against Iran, first called for an end of the war in September, as public frustration with elevated gas prices mounted.

El-Sayed argued that Rogers had been a longtime cheerleader for war.

“When you’ve got an international problem, he’s got a war for that,” El-Sayed said. “That’s his approach.”

ICE killings in Minneapolis 'probably not appropriate,' Rogers says

Asked about holding immigration agents accountable and an instance when they went "too far," Rogers pointed to the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

"I think the public efforts in Minnesota were probably not appropriate," Rogers said. "I actually did fugitive raids when I was an FBI agent in Chicago. You always want to go in quiet, get the bad guy, get out of the neighborhood for less problems."

Rogers said that federal immigration agents have "made that correction, they made that adjustment."

El-Sayed was asked if he'd support deporting undocumented immigrants who committed violent crimes and served a sentence.

"Yes, but you don't have to do that by violating the whole Constitution in the way that ICE has been enabled to do by this rogue administration," El-Sayed said.

"He talked about what happened in Minneapolis: I went there. He said it was 'probably not right.' I mean, definitely not right," El-Sayed said of Rogers. "They killed two people."

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