Family members in coastal Karnataka recount an outpouring of congratulations, renewed interest in a former Mysore State minister’s legacy and excitement over the election of America’s first Muslim senator.
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed’s victory over Republican Mike Rogers has sparked celebrations and excitement in Bhatkal, Karnataka, the ancestral hometown of his wife, Sarah Jukaku. The 42-year-old El-Sayed, who defeated Rogers by seven percentage points on November 3, also made history as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
Weeks before the election, The American Bazaar traveled to Bhatkal, a coastal town roughly 90 miles north of Mangalore, and found little local interest in the Michigan Senate race. El-Sayed’s victory, however, changed that, putting the town and its connection to his wife’s family in the spotlight.
For the Jukaku family, the scale of public interest following the election came as a surprise. Dr. Aliya Nazneen, Sarah’s paternal aunt, who lives in Bhatkal, described the overwhelming response to El-Sayed’s victory.
“We are very happy and overwhelmed,” Dr. Nazneen told The American Bazaar. She said the family had not anticipated the level of international attention the election would bring.
“It came as a surprise for us, though he was standing for the elections, we were not expecting the reaction of this scale in the world. We thought the election would be held there, and life will go on, but all the attention that is coming to Bhatkal was not expected. We are overwhelmed.”
Dr. Nazneen expressed hope that El-Sayed would fulfill the commitments he made during his campaign.
“Hopefully, he will deliver the promises he has made,” she said.
El-Sayed campaigned on a platform centered on “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All.”
Nazneen said her brother, Dr. Jukaku S. Tayeb, Sarah’s father, had received numerous phone calls following the election victory.
A nephrologist, Tayeb graduated from Bangalore Medical College in 1976 before embarking on a medical career that eventually took him to Michigan.
Asked whether the family had plans to gather and celebrate El-Sayed’s victory, Nazneen said relatives were scattered across the world, making an in-person celebration difficult.
“Except one niece and a couple of cousins, I don’t have any of my relatives in Bhatkal. None of my brothers and sisters is here as they are all over the world. So, we cannot plan any gathering anyway.”
Instead, family members have been exchanging congratulatory messages, prayers and good wishes through their WhatsApp group.
“Family WhatsApp group is popping off,” she added.
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Beyond the election victory, Nazneen said the attention surrounding Sarah and El-Sayed has renewed interest in the legacy of her father, J.H. Shamsuddin, a former minister in the erstwhile Mysore State, later renamed Karnataka.
A lawyer, educator and politician, Shamsuddin was a prominent public figure in Bhatkal during the decades surrounding India’s independence. Although his contributions were well known to older residents, Nazneen said younger generations had become less familiar with his legacy.
“Details about the Jukaku family is well known in Bhatkal, but the younger generation had no clue. Everything gets forgotten, things had gone back.”
Recalling her father’s role in the town’s development, Nazneen said, “He brought electricity, telephone and roads to Bhatkal among other infrastructure and developments.”
She welcomed the renewed attention to his contributions, particularly the coverage introducing younger residents to his work.
“It’s refreshing to see all this is coming up in the news. I don’t think any channels that have talked about him before, but now is talking about my father, which is very nice to hear. I think younger generations are being educated on his contributions to Bhatkal.”
Even Nazneen’s former medical college classmates, she recalled, had only recently learned about her family background after news of El-Sayed’s election brought the Jukaku family into the spotlight.
“Let me tell you a small example, my MBBS classmates did not know who I was all these years, I graduated 40 years ago, and nobody knew me as Shamsuddin’s daughter. Now suddenly all my classmates are messaging me we didn’t know this and that, we didn’t know you are Shamsuddin’s daughter and my father’s contributions. We are reading in the news now and you never told us anything (she joked.)”
The family’s connection to Bhatkal also drew attention from Karnataka legislator Dinesh Gundu Rao, who shared an Instagram post featuring El-Sayed and Sarah and highlighting her grandfather’s legacy.
Nazneen welcomed the recognition.
“Bhatkal is in the news for all the right reasons.”
READ: Abdul El-Sayed highlights Karnataka roots of his wife, criticizes Pakistan democracy (August 31, 2026)
She also expressed hope that El-Sayed would follow in the footsteps of her father, whose contributions to public life in Bhatkal continue to be remembered.
“Though Abdulrahman El-Sayed (referring to Abdul El-Sayed) is not a blood relative to Shamsuddin Jukaku, he is a grandson-in-law, we believe El-Sayed will walk in the footsteps of my father. He has the same qualities; he is very honest, sincere, committed, non-corrupt, doesn’t take donations from big corporations and even refused such donations. He is only using donations from common people. People have been very generous.”
Offering her prayers and best wishes for El-Sayed’s future, Nazneen said, “Inshallah (God willing), we pray that he will be very, very successful in all his goals and Allah protect him. Alhamdulillah.”
She also expressed confidence in Sarah’s ability to handle the increased public attention accompanying her husband’s political success.
“Sarah has always been a very outspoken person, she is confident, bright, intelligent and she will handle it well.”
Michigan’s U.S. Senate race was among the most closely watched contests in the country, with a dramatic last-minute development adding to the uncertainty.
Just two days before the November 3 election, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed had defeated in the party’s August primary, endorsed his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
The endorsement was followed by an unexpected surge in contributions to El-Sayed’s campaign, which reported raising $2.4 million in a single day, its largest one-day fundraising haul.
Nazneen pointed to the fundraising surge as evidence of strong public support for El-Sayed.
READ: Is Abdul El-Sayed ‘more Indian than Arab’? Resurfaced video draws attention to wife’s Karnataka roots (November 5, 2026)
She said she had not spoken directly with Sarah since the election because “Sarah is busy,” but had sent a congratulatory message to Sarah’s father.
El-Sayed has also spoken about his close ties to his wife’s South Indian heritage. In one interview, he said, “Listen, I’ve been married in a South Indian family for 20 years, like… I am well inducted now I… you know, I might be more Indian than I am Arab,”
In Bhatkal, the election has become more than an American political milestone. It has brought renewed attention to a family with deep roots in the coastal Karnataka town, even as many of its members have settled in different parts of the world.
The excitement has extended beyond the Jukaku family, with residents exchanging congratulatory messages and following developments in American politics.
“The whole town is exchanging floods of messages, they have now realized importance of the U.S. mid-term election in relation to their illustrious son in law Abdul El- Sayed. They are more jubilant for Republican defeat for simple reason that conditions in the Middle East will improve, El Sayed’s victory was icing on the cake,” Bhatkal resident and engineer Mohammed Tanveer Kasarkod told The American Bazaar.