Video taking off 299x its usual first day

Abdul El-Sayed turns Michigan-Ohio rivalry into a victory-speech joke

Michigan's senator-elect addresses JD Vance, Donald Trump and outside campaign spending in a Guardian Australia clip watched more than a million times.

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Guardian Australia Story of November 5, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,472,476 views a day, 299 times a normal first day on this channel (4,918).

Abdul El-Sayed victory speech after history making win in Michigan Senate race

What do you say to a political opponent who may soon administer your oath of office? Abdul El-Sayed has a Michigan-Ohio joke ready for JD Vance: "Wolverine one, Buckeye zero."

El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate election, becoming the country's first Muslim senator. Guardian Australia's excerpt of his victory speech reached about 1.3 million views in 19 hours, far beyond the channel's usual opening day for a Short.

Speaking behind a podium with American and Michigan flags, El-Sayed tells Vance that he will have to swear him in come January. Then comes the college-sports reference: the Wolverines are the University of Michigan's teams, while the Buckeyes belong to Ohio State. Vance represented Ohio in the Senate before becoming vice-president.

The jokes give way to a warning about campaign money. Addressing Super PACs and special interests, El-Sayed says, "we are coming for your system of politics." He says Aipac spent heavily against his campaign and thanks the group for giving him the opportunity to defeat it twice.

Guardian Australia also posted victory speeches from James Talarico in Texas and Jon Ossoff in Georgia, both drawing substantially more views than its usual Shorts. But El-Sayed's excerpt carries a particularly compact progression: a joke for Vance, a message for Trump, then his declaration about overcoming outside spending: "Tonight, Michigan, we beat a machine."

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