DI has documented statements by Abdul El-Sayed on 2026 Midterm Elections, Antisemitism, and Artificial Intelligence, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, in a podcast interview
Mixed or conditional
Response to this claim
El-Sayed's immediate response should have stopped at an unqualified condemnation; adding causal context at that moment was a mistake.
“There’s plenty of opportunity to talk about how things are interconnected, but not in the acute moment of pain.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)El-Sayed Explains Why He Apologized for His Statement on a Synagogue AttackParagraphs quoting El-Sayed on the On NOTUS podcast about his apology
Why we used this label
The reference point is El-Sayed's cycle-of-violence framing of the Temple Israel attack. He concedes that offering the context so soon was ill-timed, while keeping the view that the events are interconnected and can be discussed later. That combines a retreat on timing with a defense of the substance, so we used Mixed or conditional, consistent with his August apology. Defended or excused loses because he calls his timing a mistake. The quote is from NOTUS's write-up of its own podcast.
In response to reporters’ questions about Piker and a possible condemnation, El-Sayed explicitly declines to make a conversation about Piker the focus.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan
Defended or excused
Response to this claim
El-Sayed supports Sharia law and treats opposition to it as white supremacy.
“Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else.”
Open the original interview (opens in a new tab)Jesse Watters interviews Abdul El-Sayed — full August 24 interviewFull 25:25 interview; Sharia/canon-law exchange immediately after Iran’s nuclear program and before the Second Amendment
Why we used this label
The full answer affirmatively justifies his stance through religious freedom and discriminatory targeting, not merely a denial that he favors compulsory government. Defense refers to his remarks, not imposing religious rule.
Role at the time: 2026 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan
Condemned
Statement summary
El-Sayed criticized the proliferation of Flock cameras and linked his opponent to a broader surveillance regime. He did not make an explicit ban proposal in this video.
“There's been this mass proliferation of Flock cameras, any and everywhere, watching your every move to collect information without you even noticing.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Flock camera backlash adds fuel to midterm anti-AI frenzyCandidate statement from Chaz Molder and El-Sayed campaign video description
Why we used this label
The reference point is whether networked license-plate reader systems such as Flock should exist and be used. El-Sayed criticized the mass proliferation of Flock cameras and their collection of information without people noticing. He did not name a remedy in this video, so the statement is placed as critical with no remedy named. Criticizing the network fits Condemned.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan
Challenged the characterization
Response to this claim
Abdul El-Sayed believes the United States deserved the September 11 attacks.
“Of course. Of course it was a dumb statement. And, of course, I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So, yes, America didn't deserve 9/11. But, you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with a dumb thing somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves to say, oh, well, what does that mean about what you think?”
Watch the original video (opens in a new tab)Meet the Press: Abdul El-Sayed full interview after primary winNBC News full interview, about 15:30 to 16:13, Welker asks whether El-Sayed disavows Piker's 9/11 comments
Why we used this label
The reference point is Rogers's accusation that El-Sayed believes America deserved the 9/11 attacks. El-Sayed states the opposite belief and rejects the practice of judging him by a remark Piker made, which disputes the attribution. We used Challenged the characterization. Condemned is close, but here he rejects the inference from Piker's remark rather than denouncing Rogers or the attack ads. We checked the quote against the audio of NBC's published interview.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, interviewed by Jacob Soboroff on All In
Condemned
Response to this claim
Abdul El-Sayed believes the United States deserved the September 11 attacks.
“So they’re going to use Islamophobia because their ideas are tired.”
Open the original interview (opens in a new tab)El-Sayed responds to Rogers’s attacks in his August 5 All In interviewOriginal interview embedded at top, dated August 5; paragraphs quoting El-Sayed on division and Islamophobia
Why we used this label
The direct interview condemns divisive campaign conduct rather than just correcting attribution. Original reporting ties the answer specifically to the accusation; broader criticisms do not erase that link.
Abdul El-Sayed supports federal privacy guardrails for Flock cameras. Mike Rogers says states can act and opposes tracking people who have committed no crimes. The dispute concerns who should set the rules.
Abdul El-Sayed declined to rank Israel and Iran as threats during Michigan's Senate debate, describing different dangers from each. Pete Buttigieg answered that Iran is an enemy and Israel an ally, while saying he would still vote for El-Sayed.
Rogers says prices are too high and the tariff fight with Canada should end. El-Sayed says Rogers backed the tariffs from the beginning. Trump reads the ad as a call for Canada to make a deal.
Abdul El-Sayed says families could retain private insurance under his Medicare for All proposal. Mike Rogers describes it as a government takeover. The campaign allows additional private coverage but expects universal public insurance to make it unnecessary.
A College Republicans group chat message says America Next offered members $200 each to disrupt Abdul El-Sayed's Flint town hall. The group says it did not coordinate, America Next did not respond, and as of October 4, 2026, no report shows anyone was paid.
Hasan Piker told Axios the US has caused more terrorism than al-Qaeda "pound for pound." The full episode added more contested claims -- on Iran's nuclear programme, Mao Zedong, China and Zionism -- and drew condemnation from both parties.
Cornell says its investigation led to expulsions and suspensions. Critics say its response to the Chi Phi allegations was inadequate and opaque. The civil complaint mentions essays as a way to mitigate conduct, not as the only sanction.
The Front Line Action's AI-generated ad opposing Abdul El-Sayed drew criticism from a political scientist who says its terrorism-related framing evokes anti-Muslim stereotypes. The sponsor's leader asked which imagery was Islamophobic.
Mike Rogers accused Abdul El-Sayed of funding his Senate campaign with terrorist-group money. The case examines the allegation, FEC records documenting outside-support transfers, related public responses, and whether any record establishes a direct payment from a designated organization.
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
Trump backs company controls and outside audits for frontier AI. Critics want enforceable federal safeguards, and the White House now calls incident reporting mandatory without identifying enforcement mechanisms or penalties.
Read twelve distinct appeals by Mike Rogers and his campaign for Abdul El-Sayed to disavow Hasan Piker, documented as of September 21, 2026. The timeline counts dated requests and excludes repeated coverage.
