Michigan Democratic Party chair Hertel calls attacks in Rogers's convention speech dishonest and Islamophobic
Curtis HertelChair of the Michigan Democratic Party
In a statement issued after Rogers's September 10 convention speech, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Rogers was "trafficking in dishonest, Islamophobic attacks" to distract from how, in Hertel's words, Rogers's and Trump's agenda is "spiking costs and hurting Michiganders." The Michigan Advance reported the statement.
“trafficking in dishonest, Islamophobic attacks because he wants to distract from how his and Trump’s agenda is spiking costs and hurting Michiganders.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Mike Rogers’s 9/11 accusation against Abdul El-Sayed
After Michigan’s August 2026 Senate primary, Mike Rogers asserted that Abdul El-Sayed believed America deserved the September 11 attacks. His campaign defended that accusation by citing El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker and reluctance to disavow him. El-Sayed had explicitly rejected justifying 9/11 and argued that appearing with a person did not imply agreement. He described Rogers’s attacks as an effort to divide voters through Islamophobia. Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer later debated the strategy and construction of a related Republican ad without endorsing its factual claims.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Michigan Advance report by Ben Solis on Rogers's September 10 convention address and the responses to it. The address included the campaign-finance allegation. Neither Roxie Richner's nor Curtis Hertel's quoted words mention the funding sentence, so neither response is recorded as a denial of it.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
In his September 10 convention speech, Rogers said he never imagined running against "somebody that campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it." The Michigan Advance reported that Democrats responded by calling the speech another example of Islamophobia against El-Sayed. It reported Hertel's statement as issued after the speech and as addressing Rogers's rhetoric about El-Sayed's heritage.
After the quotation
The Michigan Advance also quoted El-Sayed spokesperson Roxie Richner, who said Rogers and his allies were "resorting to shameful lies" about the Democratic nominee.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Rogers's use of a 9/11 accusation against El-Sayed, and the Islamophobia charge El-Sayed raised in response. Hertel, reacting to Rogers's September 10 convention speech, called Rogers's attacks on El-Sayed dishonest and Islamophobic. The Michigan Advance framed the remark as a response to Rogers's rhetoric about El-Sayed's heritage, and Hertel's quoted words do not single out the 9/11 accusation. The statement expressly criticizes the conduct under scrutiny, so we labeled it Condemned.
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The Dispute Index. "Michigan Democratic Party chair Hertel calls attacks in Rogers's convention speech dishonest and Islamophobic". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2789-in-a-statement-issued-after-rogers-s-september