‘Con man’ and ‘cowardly’: Personal insults fly in heated Michigan, Georgia Senate debates

It didn’t take long for the personal attacks to fly in Thursday night’s debates for two marquee Senate races in Georgia and Michigan.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff opened by effectively putting Republican Rep. Mike Collins’ record on trial, highlighting his association with a white nationalist and what Ossoff called his “childlike devotion” to President Donald Trump.

And in Michigan’s open Senate race, Republican Mike Rogers attacked Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in personal terms, repeatedly calling him a “con man” and questioning his credentials as a doctor. El-Sayed in turn mocked Rogers: “Weak. Cowardly. Won’t stand up until his poll numbers drop.”

Both seats are critical to Senate control even as the map of battleground states widens amid surging Democratic enthusiasm in states President Donald Trump won by double digits two years ago.

Here’s a look at key moments from the debates so far.

The economic fallout of Trump’s 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods has battered Michigan — giving El-Sayed an opening and forcing Rogers to defend his relationship with Trump.

Rogers said that this week he’d called Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss getting a trade deal with Canada done.

“This is about getting the best deal possible. I’d like to see it end. I think we need to end it. And I — matter of fact, I made those phone calls this week,” Rogers said.

El-Sayed, meanwhile, pointed to Rogers’ past praise for Trump’s tariffs, and said his reversal in recent weeks “has everything to do with his sagging poll numbers.”

He also lambasted Rogers over Trump’s war with Iran, saying the former congressman has “cheer-led this war the entire time.”

He said Michigan’s next senator needs to “stand up to Trump and Trumpism,” and said of Rogers: “You can tell he’s not going to stand up to anybody.”

Ossoff similarly put Collins on defense all night over tariffs — from their effects on Georgia farmers to the cost of food. He repeatedly challenged Collins to explain to Georgians how tariffs have helped them.

Collins ignored Ossoff’s bait, but when asked later by a moderator how to balance competitiveness with China and Georgia’s manufacturing sector, he said the tariffs were “making it fair.”

“Go buy groceries,” Ossoff said. “No one in this state seriously believes these tariffs are working, Congressman. It’s been a disaster.”

Rogers told viewers that El-Sayed is “not what he says he is. He’s actually selling the best con I think I’ve ever seen.”

“If somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he’d go to jail,” Rogers said. (El-Sayed earned a Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University, but he does not practice clinical medicine. He held public health positions in the Detroit area.)

He accused El-Sayed, who is Muslim, of being sympathetic to — and funded by — interests connected to Islamic terror.

“He can’t condemn Hamas. He can’t condemn the Muslim Brotherhood,” Rogers said. “He gets money from people who support, openly, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda.”

For the most part, El-Sayed ignored the personal attacks, rather than litigating their veracity on-stage. He said Rogers wanted to make the race “about him or me, but the question is about you.”

However, he did jab back with some personal barbs of his own, accusing Rogers, a former congressman, of running for office again to make millions in the private sector.

If the animosity between Rogers and El-Sayed wasn’t already clear enough, the moderator said after a commercial break that it was the first time he’d ever seen candidates continue debating into the break, while voters aren’t even watching.

Rogers also sought to contrast the work their mothers did. He pointed out that El-Sayed’s mother worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, a non-profit that the Treasury Department in 2004 designated as an organization supporting terrorism.

“Are you going after my mom?” said El-Sayed, who was primarily raised in Michigan by his father and stepmother.

“I was going after that organization that was indicted for funneling money to Al Qaeda,” Rogers said. “Look, that’s your mom. My mom worked at a small chamber of commerce. I’ll put my mom up any day for that.”

El-Sayed responded he is a “dad and a doctor” who wants to “get money out of politics, put money in your pocket and pass Medicare for All.” He said Rogers “wants this to be about anything but his own record.”

Ossoff challenged Collins to defend his support for Trump’s agenda.

“I doubt he’ll have the courage to do so,” Ossoff said.

Collins fired back that Ossoff was “an extremist who’s voted for men to go in girls’ sports” and then called his opponent “a trust fund kid who’s never had a job in his life.”

The exchanges grew more heated from there. Ossoff raised an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Collins’ congressional office misused taxpayer dollars. A visibly irritated Collins called the investigation a “nothingburger” and accused Ossoff of dodging scrutiny of his own record.

“All he wants to do is slander and try to slam me,” Collins said.

周四晚间，佐治亚州和密歇根州两场备受瞩目的参议院竞选辩论中，很快就出现了人身攻击。

佐治亚州参议员乔恩·奥索夫首先对共和党众议员迈克·柯林斯的过往记录进行了严厉的审查，重点指出他与白人民族主义者的关系，以及奥索夫所说的他对唐纳德·特朗普总统的“孩子般的忠诚”。

在密歇根州的参议员竞选中，共和党候选人迈克·罗杰斯对民主党候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德进行人身攻击，反复称他为“骗子”，并质疑他的医生资格。埃尔-赛义德则反过来嘲讽罗杰斯：“软弱。懦弱。民调支持率下降之前，他不敢站出来。”

即便在两年前特朗普总统以两位数优势获胜的州，民主党人的热情高涨，摇摆州的版图也在不断扩大，但这两个席位对于参议院的控制权仍然至关重要。

以下是迄今为止辩论中的几个关键时刻。

特朗普对价值 200 亿美元的加拿大商品征收 50% 的关税，其经济后果重创了密歇根州——这给了埃尔-赛义德机会，并迫使罗杰斯为他与特朗普的关系辩护。

罗杰斯表示，本周他已致电商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克，讨论与加拿大达成贸易协议的事宜。

“这关乎达成尽可能最好的协议。我希望这件事就此结束。我认为我们必须结束这件事。事实上，这周我就是打了那些电话的人，”罗杰斯说道。

与此同时，埃尔-赛义德指出罗杰斯过去曾赞扬特朗普的关税政策，并表示他最近几周的转变“完全与他不断下滑的民调支持率有关”。

他还猛烈抨击罗杰斯对特朗普发动的伊朗战争，称这位前国会议员“一直以来都在为这场战争摇旗呐喊”。

他说，密歇根州的下一任参议员需要“挺身对抗特朗普和特朗普主义”，并谈到罗杰斯时说：“你可以看出他不会挺身对抗任何人。”

奥索夫整晚都就关税问题向柯林斯发起猛烈抨击，从关税对佐治亚州农民的影响到食品价格上涨，无一不让他感到棘手。他反复质问柯林斯，要求他向佐治亚州民众解释关税究竟给他们带来了哪些好处。

科林斯对奥索夫的挑衅置之不理，但后来当主持人问他如何平衡与中国的竞争力以及格鲁吉亚的制造业时，他说关税“使之公平”。

奥索夫说：“去买些食品杂货吧。议员先生，我们州没人真的相信这些关税措施有效。这简直是一场灾难。”

罗杰斯告诉观众，埃尔-赛义德“并非他自称的那样。他实际上是在兜售我见过的最精彩的骗局。”

罗杰斯说：“如果有人走进他的办公室，他试图给病人看病，他就会坐牢。”（埃尔-赛义德获得了哥伦比亚大学的医学博士学位，但他并不从事临床医疗工作。他曾在底特律地区担任公共卫生职务。）

他指责身为穆斯林的埃尔-赛义德同情与伊斯兰恐怖主义有关的利益集团，并接受其资助。

罗杰斯说：“他不能谴责哈马斯，也不能谴责穆斯林兄弟会。他从那些公开支持哈马斯、真主党和基地组织的人那里获得资金。”

埃尔-赛义德基本上对人身攻击置之不理，也没有在台上争辩其真伪。他说罗杰斯想把这场竞选变成“他和我之间的较量，但问题的关键在于你”。

然而，他也进行了反击，对前国会议员罗杰斯进行了人身攻击，指责他再次竞选公职是为了在私营部门赚取数百万美元。

如果罗杰斯和埃尔-赛义德之间的敌意还不够明显的话，主持人在广告休息后表示，这是他第一次看到候选人在广告休息期间继续辩论，而选民甚至都没有观看。

罗杰斯还试图对比他们母亲的工作。他指出，埃尔-赛义德的母亲曾在伊斯兰美国救济署工作，该非营利组织于2004年被美国财政部认定为支持恐怖主义的组织。

“你要对我妈妈下手吗？”埃尔-赛义德问道，他主要由父亲和继母在密歇根州抚养长大。

罗杰斯说：“我当时正在调查那个被指控向基地组织输送资金的组织。听着，那是你妈。我妈在一家小型商会工作。为了这件事，我随时都愿意让我妈顶替我。”

埃尔-赛义德回应说，他是一位“父亲和医生”，他希望“让金钱退出政治，让民众受益，并推动全民医保”。他还说，罗杰斯“只想把话题引到其他任何事情上，就是不想谈他自己的政绩”。

奥索夫质问柯林斯，为何支持特朗普的政策议程。

奥索夫说：“我怀疑他是否有勇气这样做。”

科林斯反击说，奥索夫是“一个极端分子，他曾投票支持男性参加女子体育运动”，然后称他的对手是“一个靠信托基金过日子、一辈子都没工作过的孩子”。

双方的交锋随后愈演愈烈。奥索夫提及众议院道德委员会正在对科林斯国会办公室涉嫌滥用纳税人资金的指控进行调查。科林斯显然被激怒了，称这项调查“纯属无稽之谈”，并指责奥索夫回避对其自身过往记录的审查。

“他只想诽谤我，想方设法诋毁我，”柯林斯说。