As he sold his national security credentials at the Republican convention in Dallas, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP nominee for Senate in Michigan, said his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, was wrong to try to justify terrorism directed at a suburban Detroit synagogue in March. "Michigan needs a senator fighting for the victims," Rogers said. "You don't sympathize with terrorists. You don't sanitize extremism."

While El-Sayed condemned the violence, he also referenced family members of the attacker killed in an Israeli airstrike the week prior, saying "hurt people hurt people." He was forced late last month to apologize to Michigan's Jewish Democratic Caucus for the comment. Rogers, a former FBI agent, offered a strong contrast with El-Sayed: "He's a conman. I'm a lawman. He wants to apologize for America. I want to defend America."