Republicans want Abdul El-Sayed to be the main character of the midterms. He’s happy to oblige

(AP) — Abdul El-Sayed, holding a handheld mic and wearing his signature V-neck black shirt, slowly shook his head as a woman at his town hall described how she burned through her savings after undergoing emergency brain surgery. “I’m really sorry for your experience, and I hope that you’re on the mend,” said El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, after outlining proposals for guaranteed health care and paid leave.

Later that night, while talking to reporters in the basement below the theatre, his tone was far different. El-Sayed called his Republican opponent Mike Rogers a “coward,” said President Donald Trump was “afraid” to visit the state and dismissed as “dumb” a question about whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the United States. The exchanges captured two sides of a candidate who is the central figure in one of the nation’s most consequential Senate races.

El-Sayed would be the country’s first Muslim senator, and he’s crisscrossing the state to counter a Republican effort, fueled by tens of millions of dollars, to portray him as a dangerous radical. But he has also embraced his confrontational side by mocking and taunting Trump and Rogers. “If they want to make me the main character in the midterms, I’m not shying away from it,” El-Sayed said in an interview.

See how well that works out for you.” El-Sayed’s brash, swaggering confidence rubbed some Democrats the wrong way during a divisive primary against Rep. The former public health official has shown little interest in toning it down, remaining unapologetic about his progressive agenda and adversarial approach, emboldening supporters who believe he’s the right candidate for an angry electorate that has lost faith in the political establishment. But his doubters fear he’ll cost Democrats control of the Senate by failing to unite his party’s disparate factions ahead of November.

“If you want their votes, you have to make nice with those people, and he’s not really doing that,” said Michigan political strategist Adrian Hemond, who supported Stevens. The entire theory of this candidacy has been he can remake what the electorate looks like.” Republicans target El-Sayed Even though Michigan backed Trump twice in his three presidential campaigns, no Republican has won a Senate race in the sta…