Vice President JD Vance called Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed “very, very evil” on Monday, escalating Republican attacks on the Democrat ahead of the midterm election.
Vance, appearing in Michigan to rally for Republican candidate Mike Rogers, spent much of his time talking about El-Sayed, portraying the Democratic nominee as a dangerous figure who is willing to inflame racial and religious divisions.
“There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Vance said.
“It’s people who see themselves not as citizens of a combination, fighting for every single person, whether they’re Jewish or Christian, whether they’re white or Black or brown, but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others,” the vice president continued. “And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America.”
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Vance focused heavily on El-Sayed’s association with political Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has faced backlash over past comments about Israel, Jewish people and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. El-Sayed has disavowed Piker’s most controversial remarks but has continued to face questions about their relationship.
Vance also attacked El-Sayed over comments he made after a March attack on Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. El-Sayed apologized this past weekend for saying “violence is a cycle” and “hurt people hurt people,” adding that he had made a mistake. He spent much of the weekend reaching out to the Jewish Democratic caucus in Michigan.
“We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright. What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn’t the time for context, and you don’t ever want to trample somebody’s pain,” El-Sayed told reporters Saturday in Lansing, Michigan.
The vice president also went after El-Sayed over a recent X post mentioning his wife, Usha Vance.
“Whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth because she’s way out of your league,” Vance said to cheers from the crowd.
Before Vance’s visit to Michigan, El-Sayed held a press conference taking aim at the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada.
“Over the past couple of weeks, Michiganders have been struck by yet another disastrous Trump policy: the expansion of a trade war with Canada,” El-Sayed said. “With Mike Rogers, he has no choice but to rubber stamp, to ‘roger,’ a trade war that is now costing Michiganders — that he says he wants to serve — nearly $6,000 a year.”
El-Sayed said that “the choice could not be more clear.”
“It is the chaos of the Trump administration, the cowardice of Mike Rogers, and the corruption of the entire MAGA party — or it’s a politics built on the notion that it should be people, rather than corporations and special interests, who dictate what our future looks like,” he said.
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