The News
MARQUETTE, Mich. — Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday night accused President Donald Trump and Republican rival Mike Rogers of using his Muslim faith as a political cudgel.
“Judge me by my actions and my work, but please do not assume that because I might pray differently than anybody who’s ever held this office, that somehow I am not deeply committed to this Constitution,” El-Sayed said in response to a question from Semafor.
Republicans have recently amplified claims that El-Sayed and his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Trump posted a video Thursday night that directly called El-Sayed a member of the group, which was founded in Egypt; his administration has designated chapters as terrorist organizations.
El-Sayed, an American of Egyptian descent who would be the first Muslim senator if elected, has rankled at the GOP accusations, including in a recent TV interview. His comments on Thursday are as close as he has come on the campaign trail to alleging Islamophobia by his opponents.
“They don’t want to talk about any of the other issues that people are actually experiencing in their lives. They want to talk about me or point to my mom or my sister,” El-Sayed said. “My mom and my sister are not running for office. I’m running for office.”
El-Sayed called it “an insane thing to assume” that members of his family were part of the Muslim Brotherhood, saying he didn’t “know what my mother was doing in Egypt in the 1970s.” Republicans have cited social media posts from his half-sister that appear to refer to his mother’s engagement with the group.
“My parents got divorced when I was very young — 3,” El-Sayed said. “I didn’t see my mom for years after I was raised by my dad and my stepmom, and when I asked, [to] the best of my knowledge, nobody in my family’s been a member of this organization.”
Know More
El-Sayed said insinuating he might not be loyal to the Constitution because of his faith was “the same thing that was done to JFK when they tried to say that, ‘Oh, well, he’s going to answer to the Pope because he’s Catholic.’ Same thing they tried to do to President Obama.”
John F. Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic president, faced some false accusations of “dual loyalties” because of his faith. And the hard right pushed conspiracy theories about the religious practices of Obama, who is a Christian and was the first Black president.
El-Sayed was campaigning in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula this week as part of a swing with progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. El-Sayed and Democrats are hoping they can grow the electorate in what has traditionally been redder territory in the state.
Notable
- A Washington Post analysis found that rhetoric about El-Sayed from right-wing social media users has increasingly focused on his faith since his Michigan primary win this summer.