Incoming White House press secretary Katie Zacharia called Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed “a radical” as a new statewide poll put him six points ahead of Republican former Representative Mike Rogers in the state’s midterm Senate race.
Zacharia delivered the attack during an interview with Fox News anchor Jesse Watters, arguing that El-Sayed had avoided answering a question about whether Israel or Iran posed the greater threat to the United States.
“He struggled with it because he does have an answer, and the answer won’t get him elected,” she said. “This was multiple choice, and he didn’t answer the question.”
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Her criticism then moved to domestic policy.
She claimed his positions reflected the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) rather than Michigan’s economic needs and asserted that he had “come out against the auto industry.”
“He wants to institute all these DSA policies, Medicare for all,” Zacharia said. “He has no interest in serving Michigan, and that is why they need to vote for Mike Rogers right now.”
She concluded: “This guy is a radical.”
Newsweek emailed the El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns for comment via email outside of regular working hours on Saturday morning.
Why It Matters
Zacharia’s Fox News diatribe sharpens the stakes in an open-seat contest that RealClearPolitics rates a toss-up with Election Day approaching on November 3.
Republicans are seeking to turn El-Sayed’s progressive platform into a liability, while Democrats enter the closing stretch with an advantage across several recent surveys.
Key PointsZacharia accused the Democrat of prioritizing Democratic Socialists of America policies over Michigan’s auto industry and workforce.The incoming press secretary urged residents to back Rogers as she prepared to begin her White House role on Monday.Recent public polls have consistently placed El-Sayed level with or ahead of his Republican opponent, although the size of that advantage varies.Survey results reveal contrasting coalitions divided by age, race, education, geography and gender.
New Poll Puts El-Sayed Ahead
Zacharia’s interview coincided with a Wedgewood Polls survey showing El-Sayed at 53 percent and Rogers at 47 percent. The online panel questioned 607 likely Michigan voters from October 8 to 9 and carried a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Although the six-point difference exceeds that stated margin, polling uncertainty means the race may be closer than six points.
Other methodological factors, including turnout assumptions and weighting choices, can also affect findings.
The Wedgewood poll also shows the different voter groups each campaign is relying on. El-Sayed received 90 percent among Black respondents, 62 percent among voters ages 18 to 29, and 61 percent among college graduates.
Rogers took 54 percent among white respondents and 52 percent among those without a four-year degree.
Subgroups contain fewer respondents than the full sample, giving those figures greater uncertainty. Those divisions make the contest tangible for families across Michigan.
Younger and college-educated voters provide the Democrats’ strongest opportunities, while the Republicans’ route depends more heavily on older, white and noncollege constituencies.
What Other Polls Show
The RealClearPolitics average for surveys conducted from September 15 through October 6 placed El-Sayed at 48.1 percent and Rogers at 44.9 percent, a 3.2-point Democratic edge.
Quantus Insights found a narrower contest, reporting 48 percent to 47 percent after interviewing 762 likely voters from October 5 to 6. Its topline margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points; the pollster calculated approximately 7.8 points for the difference between the candidates and described the outcome as a statistical tie. Mitchell Research measured a five-point lead on October 1, with 46 percent supporting El-Sayed and 41 percent choosing Rogers. That survey covered 680 likely voters and had a plus or minus 3.8-point margin of sampling error.Trafalgar Group’s poll of 1,085 likely voters, conducted from September 28 to 30 with a plus or minus 2.9-point margin, produced a 47 percent to 45 percent result. Five percent remained undecided.
Taken together, the data give El-Sayed a modest advantage while leaving Rogers close enough for late movement, turnout differences or ordinary polling error to change the outcome.
What Happens Next
Zacharia said her first White House working day would be Monday, adding that Trump was “full of surprises.”
Her new platform gives Republicans a prominent messenger for their closing argument, but Michigan voters will determine whether describing El-Sayed as ideologically extreme can erase his current polling edge.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.