A Michigan Democrat running for U.S. Senate has made offensive remarks about Vice President JD Vance and his family, according to reports.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim and socialist candidate competing in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Rep. Haley Stevens, recently appeared on a podcast where he targeted the Vance family with racially charged insults and crude sexual comments.
During the broadcast, El-Sayed stated: “JD Vance has Brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else.” He further added that Usha Vance’s thoughts might be, “Damn, I have to sleep with him,” and speculated: “I guess she’s pregnant so something is happening. Can you imagine, he’s got Brown kids, at some point he’s going to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like, you made your career hating people who are different.”
El-Sayed also criticized Vance’s personal qualities, describing him as having “the charisma of a doorknob” and “the aura of a toad,” while urging Usha Vance to “get out” of the marriage.
The remarks follow reports that El-Sayed has previously campaigned with pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah figures. In an August event, he suggested: “We don’t back down. When they go low, we don’t go high. We take them to the mud and choke them out!”
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley condemned El-Sayed’s comments as part of a broader trend using children in racist attacks. Former Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon described the approach as stoking racial division.
The primary election is scheduled for August 4.