Jack Schlossberg Criticizes Abdul El-Sayed's Comparison to JFK

Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy, is publicly criticizing Michigan's newly elected U.S. senator over his comparison to Kennedy. In a post on X, Schlossberg wrote that Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who has not yet taken office, invoked Kennedy's Catholic faith to compare his own election to Kennedy's. Town & Country quoted the post: “JFK ran on policy and took questions on religion. Abdul did the opposite.”

El-Sayed won Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat on November 4, defeating Republican Mike Rogers. He is a progressive Democrat and a former Detroit health director. Reuters reported that he became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

The comparison grew out of questions about the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that began in Egypt. At an October town hall in Caro, Michigan, El-Sayed was asked to disavow the group. He said he was “not running to be a Muslim senator,” adding, “I'm running for the U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.” He said he “absolutely” disavows the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Bridge Michigan.

In a follow-up interview on MS NOW, El-Sayed said Kennedy was asked whether his allegiance would be to the Constitution or to the pope and the Vatican. ABC News 4 reported on the earlier comparison as well.

Schlossberg has his own recent history in politics. He lost a primary, the contest inside a party that picks its candidate, for New York's 12th Congressional District earlier this year.

Kennedy, elected in 1960, was the first Catholic to serve as president. His faith was a major question of that campaign, and his answer was a speech about the separation of church and state. Schlossberg's post centers on how that history is being used now.