El-Sayed Presses Critics on Muslim Brotherhood Questions in Michigan Senate Race
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan, has repeatedly asked people who question his positions on Israel, the Muslim Brotherhood and his faith to explain the premise of their questions, according to the Guardian. A town hall exchange about the Muslim Brotherhood, shared over the weekend before October 21, had been viewed more than 50 million times, the Guardian reports.
The exchange took place at a Michigan town hall on a Saturday, when an attendee asked El-Sayed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, according to ABC3340. El-Sayed answered "Sure, yeah, absolutely," and then asked, "What are you implying? Do you assume that I wouldn't?" The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic political movement. El-Sayed has been accused of having ties to it, which he has denied, according to Yahoo News.
When El-Sayed asked why the questioner was raising the group, the man, whom the Guardian identifies as Thomas Teepell, a former aide to Republican senator Josh Hawley, replied, "Well, because they're a terrorist group." El-Sayed responded, "But what are you implying?" The exchange lasted about five minutes. El-Sayed compared the questions about the Muslim Brotherhood to doubts about John F. Kennedy's Catholicism.
The Guardian reports that an FEC filing, a record filed with the Federal Election Commission, the US agency that oversees campaign money, shows that the firm of Teepell's father was paid $250,000 by a non-profit for "canvassing and influencer marketing" against El-Sayed. The Guardian reports that nothing shows Teepell himself was paid.
El-Sayed won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary by about a point and a half over Haley Stevens. Stevens was backed by governor Gretchen Whitmer and senator Gary Peters, and by more than $60 million in outside money, mostly from pro-Israel groups, the Guardian reports. The Intercept reported in July that the pro-Israel group AIPAC had spent nearly $30 million against El-Sayed.
During the primary, CNN's Kasie Hunt asked El-Sayed three times whether Israel has a right to exist. He responded, "I'm not going to play this gotcha game." After winning the primary, he spent 25 minutes in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters covering immigration enforcement, Sharia and transgender issues, the Guardian reports.
El-Sayed has been nicknamed "Mean Mamdani" or "Meandami," a comparison with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, according to the Guardian. The Guardian also frames his challenge to the questions as taking place amid rising Islamophobia.
The Intercept reported that El-Sayed faced Islamophobic attacks from both the Republican Party and the Democratic establishment. In September, the Washington Post reported that anti-Muslim rhetoric against him was shaping the race. Dawud Walid, executive director of a Muslim civil rights organization, told the paper that Islamophobia has become "as American as apple pie."
