Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Saturday turned a town hall question about the Muslim Brotherhood into a pointed rebuke, accusing the attendee of making assumptions based on his faith.
At a campaign event in Michigan, a voter asked whether El-Sayed would “disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.” El-Sayed replied, “Sure. Yeah, absolutely,” before immediately questioning the premise: “Why are you asking the question?”
In a four-minute exchange captured on video and shared on X, El-Sayed pressed further: “Have you asked everybody in your life if they disavow them? So why are you asking me?” He argued the question implied that because he is Muslim, he might hold allegiance to something outside the U.S. Constitution. “That’s your assumption. That’s implicit in the question,” he said.
El-Sayed drew a direct comparison to the skepticism faced by former President John F. Kennedy, the nation’s first Catholic president, who was questioned about his loyalty to the Pope and the Vatican. “And [Kennedy’s] answer, famously, was that he was not running to be a Catholic president. He was running to be president and happened to be Catholic,” El-Sayed recalled. “I’m not running to be a Muslim senator, I’m running for U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.”
He closed with a defense of religious liberty: “And the reality of it is this: I’m never going to tell you what faith you can or can’t practice. I want to protect your right to practice your faith as you choose.”
The exchange comes amid a heated race against former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D). Rogers has previously alleged, during a debate, that El-Sayed and his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, citing political contributions from individuals linked to the group and claiming El-Sayed “pledged his support” to the organization. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has spawned political movements across the Middle East and extremist offshoots like Hamas, according to Britannica.
However, Bridge Michigan reported last month that there is no evidence El-Sayed has direct ties to or pledged support for the group. El-Sayed’s campaign has dismissed Rogers’ claims as smears.
In the same debate, El-Sayed attacked Rogers for his association with the Trump administration, which Rogers has tried to distance himself from by calling for an end to the war in Iran and a resolution to the tariff dispute with Canada.
Polling suggests a tight contest. Decision Desk HQ, a partner of The Hill, gives El-Sayed a 68% chance of winning, while the Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss up.” The GOP sees the seat as a key pickup opportunity in its effort to hold the Senate majority. Trump’s upcoming rally in Michigan underscores the national stakes. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez’s $1 million injection into El-Sayed’s campaign signals progressive momentum, but Vance’s campaign swing in the state shows the GOP is not ceding ground.
