SOUTHFIELD — Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed, the rivals for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, clashed over their competing policy agendas and who lies more Wednesday, Oct. 21, in a much calmer debate than their brawling faceoff two weeks ago.

From the studios of WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), El-Sayed regularly encouraged the television audience to play "MAGA bingo" based on Rogers’ "buzzword" answers, challenged Rogers to "own" his record and said Rogers stands “hip to hip” with President Donald Trump on his worst policies.

“They're going to use buzzwords, and I'm hoping that y'all can play at home," El-Sayed said. "Every time you hear one of those buzzwords, just remember, when they're distracting you, they're also trying to pick your pocket."

Rogers accused El-Sayed over and over of a "pattern of deception," accusing El-Sayed of lying about his title of doctor, about his connections to foreign political movements and about his rejecting corporate money.

“This is absolutely rich to me. This is again this pattern of deception that this candidate has done for the last 18 months,” Rogers said.

"He wants to make this about Donald Trump. I mean, the bingo game ought to be how many times can he put the word Trump in any answer he's given in the last 30 minutes," Rogers said later. "It's ridiculous."

The contest between the two men could help determine control of the U.S. Senate next term. Rogers, a Republican and former seven-term congressman from White Lake Township, is trying to pull out a win against El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat from Ann Arbor. Advertising spending in the race is expected to top $300 million by Election Day on Nov. 3.

The most heated exchanges of the evening came from the candidates' answers to questions about public safety, during which Rogers again attempted to link El-Sayed, who is Egyptian American, through personal or family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood ― a group that El-Sayed has repeatedly disavowed in recent days.

El-Sayed, who is Muslim, said the repeated attack questions his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, and that is "really quite beneath you, Mike."

"He keeps raising this question about this association with an organization that I've never been a part of. Because of my mom, who's a nurse in Missouri? It doesn't make any sense," El-Sayed said.

"I am proud of America. I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray," El-Sayed added. "That you would ask that, I think is actually really quite shameful."

Rogers countered that the issue isn't about El-Sayed being the "victim."

"This is about an ideology ― an ideology that's banned in five Muslim countries, an ideology that's banned in another six different countries, an ideology that is very concerning to law enforcement in the United States because they use it for funding overseas operations," Rogers said. "That's the difference."

Here's our top takeaways from the second and final Senate debate between Rogers and El-Sayed:

Did Rogers oppose aid for Sept. 11 responders?

El-Sayed during the debate cited Rogers' votes against the 2010 James Zadroga Act that set up a program to provide medical treatment and monitoring for Sept. 11 responders and survivors who had health complications related to the terror attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers in New York City.

"He's about to deny it, of course. But this is his record. He, in fact, told an amputee ― a first responder from 9/11 who had lost a limb ― that he did not want to expand insurance, even for him ... because it was 'a New York problem,'" El-Sayed said. "Nobody knows more about taking away our health insurance than he does."

El-Sayed was referring to John Feal, a 9/11 first responder who told the Guardian this fall that he had personally discussed the Zadroga legislation with Rogers during committee debate in which Feal testified. Feal said Rogers told him first responders’ health issues were a “New York problem” and questioned where the money to help them was going to come from.

Rogers, on rebuttal, called El-Sayed's claims "ridiculously outrageous."

"The guy, the FBI guy, the military guy, is going to do that? I actually put in the $150 million to make sure our 9/11 heroes are taken care of. That was back then," Rogers said, not specifying what appropriation he was referring to.

"I left Congress in 2014, so I know they've plussed up that pot," Rogers added.

Candidates scrap over Social Security fix

When asked about the possibility of Social Security being insolvent by 2032, triggering a cut in monthly benefit checks, Rogers said it was important to ensure the system is well-funded.

“We must fix this,” Rogers said. “I think the best way to do this is put people in a room, it’s got to be bipartisan to get this done.”

Auditors must determine what type of fraud is occurring within the system, Rogers added. Those dollars lost to fraud could help to bridge some of the gap, he said.

“We have to get rid of the fraud that’s built into the system,” Rogers said.

l-Sayed called for the nation to “scrap the cap,” so wealthy individuals contribute more to the system. Social Security taxes are capped at the first $184,500 of payroll income.

He also accused Rogers of hiding behind the specter of alleged fraud as cover to privatize Social Security or raise the retirement age.

"If you want grandma and grandpa working until they're like 80-something, Mike Rogers is your guy," El-Sayed said.

El-Sayed, Rogers part ways on Iran

El-Sayed accused the Trump administration of mishandling international relations with Iran, essentially choosing war over diplomacy. He accused Rogers of being “hip-to-hip” with Trump on the Iran war.

“There’s no doubt that Iran has posed a threat,” El-Sayed said. “Here’s the problem with it though, is that that threat had been contained back during the Obama administration back when he used diplomacy and not war to contain the threat.”

Rogers fired back that Iran “absolutely” is a threat and that gas would be even higher, $8 a gallon, if the U.S. had allowed Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Additionally, he noted, Iran funded Hamas ahead of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

“My opponent can’t even condemn the IRGC, which is the terrorist enforcement arm of Iran, and doesn’t believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel,” Rogers said. “This is an absolute non-starter if you’re going to send somebody to the United States Senate.”

After the debate, while speaking with reporters, El-Sayed stood behind earlier equivalencies he made about the threat Iran and Israel present. He compared Israel to a friend that pokes a bear, Iran, in the woods while you’re walking with him.

“The friend who pokes a bear when you’re out for a walk, inadvisably, you’ve got to question whether or not that’s actually a friendship,” he said.

“I’ve been very clear: I think they’re both dangerous. I think the fact that we’re fighting the war in Iran is a function of what the prime minister of Israel wanted.”

Rogers says 'very reasonable' to require voter ID

The candidates also sparred on the SAVE Act, which is legislation in Congress to require voter ID at the polls and citizenship verification that Trump has demanded that Republicans pass.

Rogers has said he'd vote for the SAVE Act, saying it's "very reasonable and rational to ask for a voter ID" before issuing a ballot.

"Show an ID to vote. I think it's absolutely imperative," Rogers said. "It won't do anything and it builds confidence in our elections."

In Michigan, voters are already required to show ID, but can sign an affidavit attesting to their identity if they don't have a photo ID on them at the polls.

El-Sayed argued that the legislation would require women who change their names after getting married to find their birth certificates to be able to vote in an election.

"You pile that on to the voter suppression tactics we've seen out of the Supreme Court, backed by Donald Trump, backed by Mike Rogers. In fact, Mike Rogers was just caught on a hot mic talking about how he wanted to make sure that there were retired cops who could intimidate voters in the city of Detroit," El-Sayed said.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard it, because that sounds like something you'd be hearing from someone in the South like 60 years ago ― not a politician running here in Michigan who's claiming that you know he's talking to folks in the city of Detroit."

Candidates spar over education reform

El-Sayed blamed the state’s poor education performance on Republicans defunding of the education system and argued the problem had become worse under Trump's watch.

El-Sayed recounted an experience in 2014, when he visited an elementary school in Detroit where the boiler wasn’t working during the winter but the students were still required to come in.

“This is a funding issue, it’s a funding issue that’s been created by the disastrous policies of folks like Mike for a very long time,” El-Sayed said.

He argued the U.S. Department of Education funding should increase along with that of the Department of Defense.

Rogers said the state should implement a phonics-based reading reclamation program for third- to fifth-graders, as well as opportunities for older students to improve their reading levels.

The current reading levels are “unacceptable,” Rogers said. “I argue it’s criminal. You just put them on a path to poverty.”

Rogers said more money has gone to schools, and reading scores have nose-dived.

Is Mike Rogers campaigning with Trump this weekend?

After El-Sayed browbeat Rogers during the debate over his connections to Trump, Rogers was noncommittal about whether he would attend the president’s Sunday, Oct. 25 rally in Port Huron.

“I don’t even know all the details…but I’d go,” Rogers said after the debate when reporters asked about the Trump rally.

“You know what? We have a lot of problems here,” Rogers added. “President Trump’s going to be here two years, like it or not. We can send somebody back (to Washington) that’s going to gouge his eyes out or somebody, like me, who’s already stood up to the president on issues that I think are important…so we can get some things done."

During the debate, after El-Sayed suggested viewers needed a MAGA bingo card to track Rogers' attacks, Rogers suggested El-Sayed should have his own bingo card for the number of times he mentioned Trump.

El-Sayed accused Rogers of relying on Trump to win the Senate race.

“You cannot win this race without Donald Trump coming here and stumping for you,” El-Sayed said.

“That’s why you begged him to come. This is what you’re going to get: Donald Trump policies."

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