The Michigan debate for Senate got heated when Abdul El-Sayed hit his opponent Mike Rogers for going after the "Peeping Tom vote," and being dismissive of privacy violations from big tech. This wasn't the first time El-Sayed used that line of attack against Rogers: ‘Fighting for the Peeping Tom Vote’: El-Sayed Calls Out PATRIOT Act Champion Rogers Over Privacy :
Amid an expanding assault on privacy by the federal government, Democratic nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has brought the issue of mass surveillance to the forefront of Michigan’s Senate race, attacking his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, for his longtime defense of the PATRIOT Act.
“Mike Rogers out here fighting for the Peeping Tom vote,” wrote El-Sayed, a former public health official, in a social media post on Monday. “Creepy stuff, Mike.”
El-Sayed was responding to an unearthed comment from Rogers, then the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, made during a 2013 committee hearing in Congress just months after whistleblower Edward Snowden’s explosive revelations about the extent of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) warrantless surveillance of Americans.
Mike Rogers out here fighting for the Peeping Tom vote. Creepy stuff, Mike.
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 10, 2026
The moderator asked about Flock cameras and other information devices and whether "the federal government put guardrails on these cameras."
EL-SAYED: Yes, absolutely I just yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I think the idea of being surveilled wherever you are without your consent is a very dangerous thing. Now Mike is gonna have a hard time answering this question.
I cannot wait to see what he has to say. Because when he was in Congress, he literally told somebody from the stand, if you don't know your privacy is being violated, is your privacy really being violated? It's like the Peeping Tom vote he's going after everywhere. And I'm sure you want it.
The question to me is, why do we continue to have a situation in which we're watching more and more technology steal more and more of our data, the very big tech corporations that are buying his campaigns, all those attack ads you're seeing, big tech and big pharma?
But the big tech part is really scary, because you don't know what they have on you. And he said, again, another quote, we would love to have just a bit of what Google has on you. Can you imagine that? That guy, right there. That's what he said.
I don't think we should be surveilling people. I think it's a ridiculous thing. And yes, I think when people have their privacy violated, yeah, you really did have your privacy violated, even if you didn't know it.
The moderator asked Rogers to respond, and after Rogers claimed that he's a big supporter of the Fourth Amendment, he said this should be up to the states before attacking El-Sayed and basically trying to accuse him and his mother of being terrorists.
Perhaps the most contentious moment came during an exchange over Flock Safety cameras, which Dr. El-Sayed said should be regulated by the federal government.
Mr. Rogers said the cameras were useful for catching people suspected of being terrorists. “Why would that bother you?” he seemed to wonder aloud. “Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the, on the watch list …”
Dr. El-Sayed, who is of Egyptian descent and would become the country’s first Muslim senator if elected — and who has faced racist and Islamophobic attacks on the campaign trail — seemed to suggest in his response that Mr. Rogers was accusing him of being tied to terrorism.
“Go ahead and say it,” Dr. El Sayed said. “You’ve been tiptoeing around it the whole time.”
Throughout the debate, Mr. Rogers had repeatedly brought up terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Hamas, suggesting that Dr. El-Sayed was supported by people who backed such organizations. Dr. El-Sayed either ignored or parried the claims, and his campaign denied them, pointing to articles that said they were false or misleading.
El-Sayed wrapped up his response, as he did over and over again during the debate, by saying Rogers wants to talk about anything besides how he's governed.
EL-SAYED: He wants this to be about anything but his own record. He's okay if the federal government spies on you, but he wants to make this about anybody else, going after my mom, my sister.
Got nothing to actually say about me. I'm a dad and a doctor. I'm trying to get money out of politics, money in the pocket, pass Medicare-for-All. He wants to take every corporate dollar he can to jump hoops for Donald Trump.
El-Sayed: He literally said: If you don't know your privacy is being violated, is your privacy really being violated? It’s like the peeping Tom vote he's going after everywhere. And I'm sure you want it. https://t.co/KTYUcCOYRn
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 9, 2026
