Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, won the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan early Wednesday, defeating Republican Mike Rogers to become the nation’s first Muslim senator.

El-Sayed was winning by a margin of about 52-46 when The Associated Press and multiple television networks declared him the winner at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday.  

It ended an improbable path for El-Sayed, who survived a bitter primary with a narrow win over Democrat Haley Stevens and faced questions about past statements about the Muslim Brotherhood and ties to the provocative influencer Hasan Piker.