Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers declined on Sunday to say whether he considers himself a MAGA Republican, and he did not clarify his position on President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, The Hill reported.
The former congressman faced the questions on NBC's Meet the Press, nine days before the Nov. 3 midterm election, in a race that could decide control of the Senate. Trump campaigned for Rogers in Port Huron the same afternoon.
In the interview, published in full by NBC News, Rogers said he was drawing support from Democrats who cannot bring themselves to vote for his opponent.
Rogers also attacked Democrat Abdul El-Sayed over what he described as the candidate's ties to Islamism, according to Hindustan Times. El-Sayed has denied any link to the Muslim Brotherhood.
At the Port Huron rally, Trump repeated the accusation. "I'm here to keep a Jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator," the president said, according to The Independent. He said El-Sayed "should never be allowed inside the halls of our great, beautiful Capitol building" and demanded that El-Sayed pass through a metal detector if he wins. "He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate," Trump said.
The president also accused El-Sayed's family of terrorist ties without offering evidence, The Independent reported. El-Sayed disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall in Caro, Michigan, after an attendee asked whether he would. "You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties," he said, adding that he would swear an oath to the Constitution.
A Marist Poll of 1,185 Michigan registered voters, conducted Oct. 15 to 18, put El-Sayed at 50% and Rogers at 48% among likely voters, inside the survey's margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. The same poll found Trump's job approval in the state at 42%, with 57% disapproving.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for El-Sayed in Detroit on Saturday. "Abdul is fighting for change, real change, change that will bring an end to this war," Obama told supporters, The Independent reported, referring to the conflict with Iran that Trump launched in late February.
Trump's Port Huron appearance came a day after Obama's Michigan stops, in a sequence GlobeTV previewed on Sunday morning. Rogers has previously distanced himself from the president's trade dispute with Canada, which has hit Michigan's auto industry.
Michigan voters go to the polls on Nov. 3.