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El-Sayed’s strategy was to make the race a referendum on Donald Trump, and he never wavered. So Rogers fell back on the only strategy that gives him a path: disqualify the Democrat. As CNN framed it, his only hope is to convince voters El-Sayed is unacceptable. (Screenshot via WXYZ TV)

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	The debate was moderated by 7 News Detroit anchors Carolyn Clifford, 7 News Detroit Editorial Director Chuck Stokes and Alicia Smith. (Screenshot via WXYZ TV)
	No Knockout in Southfield: Rogers and El-Sayed Leave Michigan’s Senate Race Where They Found It Walter Hargrove - Political Analyst Tell Us Detroit News Bureau SOUTHFIELD, MI - Twelve days out, Michigan’s Senate race came down to one question: which candidate scares voters more? Wednesday night’s debate in Southfield, the second and last of the campaign, did nothing to settle it. Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed spent an hour trying to define each other before voters could define themselves. The race is a dead heat in a state Democrats hold and Republicans badly want, and it could decide control of the Senate. Newsweek had El-Sayed up slightly in the polls going in. Nothing on that stage suggests the margin will widen. El-Sayed’s strategy was to make the race a referendum on Donald Trump, and he never wavered. He called Rogers’ agenda a MAGA vision, blamed Trump-backed policies for expensive gas and groceries, and labeled his opponent a “sock puppet” for the president. He even turned the Republican talking points into a bit, inviting viewers to play “MAGA bingo” every time Rogers reached for a buzzword. It was a disciplined effort to tie Rogers to a president whose approval ratings are historically low. Rogers needed to get away from that, and he didn’t entirely manage it. He opened by conceding that Michigan families are hurting, which is a long way from the president’s talk of a golden age. He called the tariffs a mixed bag and questioned the trade war with Canada. He tried to flip the bingo joke, saying the real game was counting how many times El-Sayed said Trump’s name. It got a laugh, but it’s a weak counter when your opponent’s whole case is that you and the president are joined at the hip. Rogers then confirmed after the debate that he plans to appear at Trump’s Michigan rally on Sunday, which handed El-Sayed his argument a second time. So Rogers fell back on the only strategy that gives him a path: disqualify the Democrat. As CNN framed it, his only hope is to convince voters El-Sayed is unacceptable. That is why the night’s sharpest moment had nothing to do with policy. Rogers pressed the claim that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and donors linked to terror groups, and he said El-Sayed would be a national security risk. Afterward he told reporters he doubts El-Sayed could even get a security clearance. El-Sayed has denied any connection to the organization. He called the charge shameful and noted that it rests on his mother, a nurse in Missouri, and told Rogers it was beneath him. That exchange is a gamble, and it cuts both ways. Rogers is questioning the loyalty of a Michigan-born Muslim who would be the first of his faith elected to the Senate. Some voters will hear a legitimate security question, and some will hear something much uglier. Which of those lands will matter more than any policy answer given Wednesday. Rogers is also leaning on a pitch that many Democrats are uneasy about El-Sayed. He claimed Jewish Democrats are afraid of him and that Democrats are abandoning him as too extreme. If that is true, it is his best card. If it isn’t, he is relying on perception, and the debate offered no proof either way. On the issues, both men landed blows and neither got a clean win. El-Sayed’s Medicare for All plan is his biggest vulnerability. Rogers hammered it as ruinously expensive, saying it would mean tax hikes and that even other Democrats won’t support it. El-Sayed’s counter was to say the corporations draining voters’ wallets are the ones bankrolling Rogers, and to accuse him of being in bed with big pharma. After the debate he told CBS the plan would cost less than the current system. That is a claim, not a number, and it won’t quiet the cost question. On Iran, each man is exposed. El-Sayed wants a War Powers Resolution and blames the war for high prices, an argument that plays well with voters tired of both. But when asked directly whether Iran is a major threat, he hedged, saying it has been one but had been contained under the Obama-era deal. Rogers called that answer a nonstarter for a would-be senator. Rogers has his own problem. He says the war should end, yet he warned of $8 gas if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz or builds a weapon, which sounds a lot like an argument for staying in. El-Sayed pounced, saying Rogers has a war for everything. The rest followed the familiar partisan script. Rogers defended ICE as going after violent criminals and traffickers and accused El-Sayed of wanting to defund the police, which El-Sayed denies. El-Sayed said ICE agents operate in neighborhoods without identifying themselves. They split on the SAVE Act, with Rogers calling photo ID reasonable and El-Sayed calling it voter suppression. Tonally, this was a notch below the Oct. 8 debate in Grand Rapids, where interruptions and insults came in nearly every answer and Rogers called El-Sayed a con man. It was still ugly. Rogers’ campaign went back to its “Conman Abdul” nickname, and neither man gave any ground. The honest scorecard is that nobody landed a knockout. El-Sayed gave Democrats a clear, repeatable message tying Rogers to Trump and the Iran war. Rogers gave skeptical voters a reason to worry, but he did it by making a charge about loyalty that he will have to live with. I found no snap poll showing who won. The question for the final stretch is whether voters are angrier at Trump or warier of El-Sayed, and Wednesday’s debate did not answer it. This Tell Us USA News Network report is produced in part by Ai and can make mistakes. Please contact and let us know of any errors you may find. info@tellususa.com