Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers released a Halloween-themed campaign video Saturday poking fun at Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed, whose birthday falls on October 31, as the two compete in one of the midterms’ closely watched battleground races in Michigan.
In the video, Rogers appears with his wife at a rally and jokes about the timing of El-Sayed’s birthday before presenting a mock “gift basket” filled with items meant to reference past statements and controversies tied to the Democratic candidate.
Among the items Rogers pulls from the basket is a package of Dubai chocolate, a nod to questions Rogers has previously raised about El-Sayed’s family property holdings in Saudi Arabia. Rogers also referenced a video that circulated showing El-Sayed on a hot mic making disparaging remarks about Michigan’s Mackinac Island, joking that “he doesn’t like Mackinac fudge… or Mackinac.”
Other props included a toy Ford pickup truck, which Rogers said referenced comments from El-Sayed’s campaign suggesting pickup truck owners were associated with the KKK, and a football, which Rogers tied to past criticism from El-Sayed of football, including Michigan football, as emblematic of “toxic ma...