Senator Vance Assails Michigan Senate Candidate El-Sayed Over Sharia Law Remarks, Citing Party's Shift

Senator JD Vance directed strong criticism at Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, linking El-Sayed’s past statements connecting critiques of Sharia law to White supremacy with what Vance described as the modern Democratic Party’s abandonment of its working-class origins.

Vance delivered these remarks on Friday at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works steel plant in his home state of Ohio. The neighboring state of Michigan is currently preparing for one of the most closely watched Senate races in the upcoming elections. El-Sayed is slated to face Republican former Representative Mike Rogers in a contest that could significantly influence the balance of power in the Senate.

Reflecting on his late grandfather, a welder for four decades who consistently voted Democratic due to his belief in it being "the party of union men," Vance contended that the Democratic Party has drifted significantly from its historical identity.

This is the party, the Democrat party of graduate students, rather than the union and nonunion workers who make this facility run. It's sometimes actually hard to understand what these modern Democrats actually stand for. But look what they say. Pay close attention, and they'll leave these little hints of what they actually care about.

Vance then focused on El-Sayed, who is the son of Muslim Egyptian immigrants.

He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy. I'd love to go back in time and tell my papa that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it you're a White supremacist. That's not my grandpa's Democratic Party, my friend.

El-Sayed's Controversial Statements

Vance's comments referenced a speech given by El-Sayed in 2022, where he was the keynote speaker at the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) annual banquet in Oklahoma. During this address, El-Sayed voiced opposition to State Question 755, a 2010 ballot initiative that aimed to amend Oklahoma's constitution to prohibit state courts from considering Sharia law in their decisions. The measure received approval from 70% of voters but was subsequently blocked by federal courts.

The same exact forces that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today. The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Shariah ban without understanding the Trail of Tears. You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding White supremacy.

Broader Critiques and Candidate's Response

El-Sayed’s remarks at the CAIR banquet are among several statements that have drawn scrutiny from conservative commentators and Republican politicians. These critics often accuse the Senate candidate of interpreting political issues primarily through the frameworks of race and religion. Other controversial statements attributed to El-Sayed include accusations that Israel is committing "genocide" and his characterization of the Jewish state as "apartheid," which have sparked apprehension within the Jewish community.

Following his primary election victory, El-Sayed issued a statement addressing these concerns.

My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it.