PORT HURON, Mich. — President Donald Trump used a campaign rally Sunday to portray Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as a national-security threat, calling him a “jihadist” and suggesting he should face a metal detector before entering the Senate. El-Sayed has denied ties to extremist groups, and there is no evidence that he is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Trump’s remarks at McMorran Place Sports and Entertainment Center repeatedly invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He compared blocking El-Sayed from the Senate to passengers who fought hijackers aboard United Flight 93, and said he had come to Michigan to stop a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member” from becoming a senator. The speech sharpened a bitter contest between El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, and Republican Mike Rogers. They are vying for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in a race that could help determine control of the Senate. The general election is Nov. 3. Bishara Bahbah, who helped found Arab Americans for Trump before the organization changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace, condemned the president’s language. “They are crossing a red line. They are racist,” Bahbah said. He warned that voters would remember the remarks on Election Day. El-Sayed, who would be the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected, called attacks on his loyalty “shameful.” At a rally in Grand Rapids later Sunday, he said Trump could call him “senator” after the election. He also defended the constitutional right to practice one’s faith. The Muslim Brotherhood has branches that the U.S. government has designated as terrorist organizations, but the campaign’s attempt to connect El-Sayed to the movement has relied in part on statements by his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. In a 2012 social media post, she wrote that her family had long been associated with the Brotherhood and described their mother’s involvement in the early 1970s. El-Sayed was raised by his father after his Egyptian immigrant parents divorced when he was young. Rogers has also questioned El-Sayed’s loyalties. At a debate, Rogers asked whether El-Sayed was “for America” or for “these terrorist groups overseas.” Before Trump took the stage Sunday, Rogers repeated his claim that El-Sayed’s primary win amounted to a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed has rejected such allegations. The candidate has faced scrutiny over his own comments and associations. He has repeatedly declined to say whether Iran or Israel poses the greater threat to the United States. After an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue earlier this year, he said “hurt people hurt people”; he later apologized, saying he did not intend to justify the attack. El-Sayed also campaigned alongside streamer Hasan Piker, who has made inflammatory statements about Hamas, Jews and the Sept. 11 attacks. Trump’s rally came as Republicans face political headwinds over inflation, rising fuel prices and the Iran war. Rather than make a new economic pledge for Michigan, the president cited investments already being made by automakers, whose finances could be affected by an expanded trade conflict with Canada, a key partner in the U.S. auto industry. Port Huron, near the Canadian border and about an hour north of Detroit, sits close to communities where Trump made gains among Arab American voters in 2024. He became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win Dearborn, where many voters were angered by the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war. Sunday’s rhetoric risks testing those political gains as Michigan voters weigh both the candidates and the issues facing the state. Rapper Nicki Minaj appeared at the rally and urged voters to support Michigan Republicans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at El-Sayed’s Grand Rapids event, argued that Republicans were emphasizing divisive attacks instead of addressing health care, housing and income inequality.