During Thursday night’s Michigan senatorial debate, Republican Mike Rogers accused Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed of failing to condemn Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and acknowledging ties to terrorist groups. Rogers specifically highlighted that El-Sayed has not condemned the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah-inspired attacks on Jewish schoolchildren in Michigan.
Rogers also pointed to El-Sayed’s birth mother, who worked for an organization later designated as a global terror group and potentially linked to al-Qaeda. The candidate faced repeated accusations of accepting money from Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated entities during the exchange.
When pressed on whether he could condemn Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Sayed repeatedly labeled such distinctions “ridiculous hypotheticals.” He defended his record by stating he had condemned those groups but was interrupted multiple times by Rogers throughout the debate.
After the event, a Michigan GOP official characterized El-Sayed as a “conman” who prioritizes Palestine over state concerns. El-Sayed’s campaign clarified that he is not a dual citizen by any verifiable metric and that his grandfather pursued Egyptian citizenship on behalf of the family due to his parents’ birthplace in Egypt.
