STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — Vice President JD Vance described Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic nominee for Senate, as “evil” during a campaign rally here Monday.
“I realize that there’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” said Vance, addressing several hundred people at an event put on by MAGA Inc., a super PAC closely aligned with President Donald Trump.
“And it’s people who see themselves not as citizens of a common nation 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, and that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America,” Vance added.
El-Sayed, who is Muslim, recently apologized for his response after an attack on a Michigan synagogue in March. In a video he posted to social media then, El-Sayed condemned the attack while adding that “hurt people hurt people” — comments that critics have characterized as wrongly empathetic toward someone who violently targeted Jewish people.
“My comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify,” El-Sayed said last week.
Vance referred to that episode Monday, as well as El-Sayed’s alliance with Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who previously said on a livestream that “America deserved 9/11.” Piker has since apologized for the remark, which El-Sayed called “dumb” this month during an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” after winning the Democratic primary.
El-Sayed faces former Rep. Mike Rogers, who also spoke at Monday’s rally, in a November election that could determine partisan control of the Senate. The seat is open because Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, is not seeking a third term.
“When I see Abdul El-Sayed campaign around the state with somebody who said that America deserved 9/11, what I see is a man who has sympathy and compassion for people who share his religion but have nothing for people who don’t, a person who will apologize for a murderer so long as he looks the right way, but will not understand the plight of an innocent child if that person has their own faith,” Vance said. “And that is the root of this terrible evil, I believe, in the United States of America that is on the rise.”
He added: “Today, you have an opportunity to speak loudly, and in November you have an opportunity to speak much more loudly against the hatred that is on the rise in the United States of America. Reject Abdul El-Sayed.”
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to Vance’s attacks.
The MAGA Inc. event, staged inside a warehouse for a local electric services contractor and tree-trimming company, featured banners that read “Protecting Americans.” It was the super PAC’s first major midterm rally to feature Vance, a likely presidential contender in 2028, as a headliner. At least one attendee Monday sported a red “VANCE 2028” baseball cap.
MAGA Inc. recently spent to boost Trump-endorsed Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., in a Senate primary runoff, but there has been skepticism in the broader GOP campaign universe over how engaged the organization will be in key races this fall.
One Republican strategist who is involved in Senate races and was granted anonymity to speak candidly said they doubted MAGA Inc. would spend heavily on the midterms. They noted that the group has not yet spent much of its money.
“It should be called the MAGA Library Fund,” this person said. “That’s where that money is going to go by and large.”
Vance’s visit also came amid a tense trade war between the U.S. and Canada. The clash is acutely felt in Michigan, which exports 39% of its goods to Canada, according to data compiled by the Progressive Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The vice president did not mention the matter, focusing instead on the administration’s anti-fraud efforts, which he leads, and Michigan’s competitive political races. He also announced a new White House crackdown on fraudulent truck drivers — an effort Vance said is aimed at rooting out undocumented immigrants and workers who don’t speak English.
Vance also advocated for Rep. John James, the Republican candidate for governor, and military veteran Mike Bouchard, the GOP nominee to succeed James in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District. James is competing with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee, in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Bouchard is running against Democrat Christina Hines, a former special victims prosecutor.
But Vance reserved his most heated rhetoric for the Senate race, where he encouraged Michigan voters to give Rogers a chance even if they don’t agree with him “100% of the time.”
In a parting shot, Vance referred to a recent social media post from El-Sayed about second lady Usha Vance. El-Sayed, playing off Vance’s remarks about his grandfather at an event in Ohio this month, mockingly wondered if the vice president would take his wife back in time to meet him.
“I actually think that the people of Michigan think it’s kind of weird when you talk about another guy’s wife,” Vance said. “But whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth.”
