Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny after previously recorded remarks resurfaced in which he suggested U.S. actions abroad contribute to conditions that lead to terrorism.
The comments were made during a July 2025 town hall in South Haven, Michigan, where El-Sayed was asked how he would address terrorism if elected to the Senate.
In response, El-Sayed said that while the use of military force against terrorist organizations can be necessary, policymakers should also seek to understand the underlying causes of extremist violence.
“I also think we need to be curious about why those things happen in the first place,” he said, later adding, “what happens when people are in pain?”
He went on to argue that individuals who commit acts of terrorism may be driven by “pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency,” and suggested that U.S. foreign policy decisions can contribute to those conditions by creating resentment or perceptions of hypocrisy abroad.
WATCH:
El-Sayed attempted to frame his comments through a public health lens, describing himself as “a student of people’s pain” and applying that perspective to political decision-making.
According to the latest Emerson College poll, he is currently tied at the top of the Democratic primary field with state lawmaker Mallory McMorrow, with both candidates receiving 24%.
As The Washington Free Beacon reports:
El-Sayed, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment, is the most left-wing of the three major candidates in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat. His remarks mirror his response to the March 2026 terror attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., in which a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist rammed his car into the synagogue and attempted to murder over 100 children inside.
Addressing that attack ahead of a rally with the anti-American streamer Hasan Piker, El-Sayed said that while “nothing justifies” the attack, it’s “critical for us to understand that hurt people do hurt people, and the circumstances happening 6,000 miles away can affect the lives that we live here, and if we stand against violence, we’ve got to stand against violence, all violence.”
The “hurt” person to whom El-Sayed referred was the perpetrator of the Michigan attack, Ayman Mohamed Ghazali, whose brother was a commander in the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Ghazali’s brother died in an Israeli strike in Lebanon days before Ghazali drove his truck into the synagogue.
El-Sayed was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrants and has written at length about spending his “summers in Egypt” as a teenager. He said at the 2025 event that his experiences there shaped his views on terrorism.
El-Sayed described feeling caught between two worlds.
“I was in a position where I would have to explain what’s happening in America to people who are flesh and blood of mine in Egypt, or I’d have to explain what’s happening in Egypt to people who are flesh and blood of mine in America,” he said. “And oftentimes, like, I’m not them, but I have a small piece of their understanding because of what I have accessed in the world.”
The resurfaced remarks have become a focal point in Michigan’s closely watched Senate race.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Wayne County health director, has centered his campaign on domestic issues, though his views on foreign policy have drawn scrutiny.
Critics say the remarks could shift blame toward the United States or minimize the role of terrorist groups.
As the race intensifies, they are likely to remain part of the broader political debate, particularly as candidates face scrutiny over past statements and their implications for national security policy.
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American my ass.
I’m sure the democrat Communist Party will embrace this Islamist.
It’s just his way of saying “I prefer Hamas and Hezbollah to the USA”. Who’s he kidding?!