Why Americans are googling “habibi” after the first Muslim senator’s victory speech

Election night usually sends Americans to Google for results. This time, one Arabic word joined the list: “habibi.”

The man behind the spike is Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat who won the Senate race in Michigan on 3 November 2026. He will be the first Muslim to sit in the US Senate.

What happened?

El-Sayed, a physician from the left wing of his party, beat Mike Rogers, a former Republican congressman and ex-FBI agent backed by Donald Trump. The race was very tight.

Speaking to hundreds of supporters at his headquarters in Detroit, he said he was “so proud and honored.” Then he turned to Vice President JD Vance, who had targeted him during the campaign over his name and his faith.

“JD! Habibi! There is a delicious irony in the fact that you are constitutionally required to swear me in in January,” he said, smiling.

He had a line for Trump too: “Donald, I know you struggle with my name. So after JD swears me in in January, you can call me senator.”

So what does “habibi” mean?

It is an affectionate Arabic word. Between partners it can mean “my darling.” Among family and close friends, it is closer to “my dear” or “my friend.”

Google says searches jumped by 800% within a few hours. By Thursday, 5 November, they were up 2,900% compared with the previous week. People typed things like “meaning habibi” and “habibi in arabic,” mostly in Michigan and in Ohio, Vance’s home state.

Why was the jab so pointed?

The teasing answers months of attacks. Vance and Trump had called El-Sayed “very, very evil,” a “jihadist” and a “violent terrorist.”

A video from late October is also back in circulation. At a rural Michigan event, a man named Tommy asked him to condemn the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement founded in Egypt in 1928. El-Sayed’s father is from Egypt. El-Sayed answered with a point about religious freedom and Islamophobia, and quoted John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president: he was not “the Catholic candidate” but the Democratic Party’s candidate, who happened to be Catholic.

What’s next?

El-Sayed takes his seat in January, sworn in by the very vice president he just addressed as “habibi.”