Fact check: JD Vance attacks Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan (bridgemi.com), a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from Bridge Michigan, sign up for a free Bridge Michigan newsletter here
- Vice President JD Vance visited southeast Michigan Thursday to back the Republican ticket
- Vance primarily focused on the US Senate, calling Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a ‘little weasel‘”‘ and lobbing attacks
- The tossup US Senate seat is considered a must-win by both parties in the quest for control of the upper chamber
MONROE — Vice President JD Vance characterized the Nov. 3 election as a “battle between grievance and gratitude” during a Thursday stop in southeast Michigan, calling the state “ground zero” for the nation as he lobbed attacks against Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Touting Republican Mike Rogers, Vance argued that El-Sayed’s critiques of historical and health inequities in America amount to hatred of the country where he was born and raised.
“You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything,” Vance said during a roughly 30-minute speech at an indoor soccer complex in Monroe.
“Let’s remind the entire country that Michigan belongs to those who love the United States of America, not those who hate it.”
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Vance’s visit, which came 19 days before the midterm election, highlighted the importance Michigan holds for Republicans, who view the state’s open US Senate seat as winnable after decades of Democratic dominance.
Missing from Vance’s speech: talk of the economy, consumer prices, tariffs or the ongoing war with Iran.
Those factors, and President Donald Trump’s poor approval ratings, have Democrats bullish on their chances of keeping the seat and taking control of the US Senate for the final two years of Trump’s term.
El-Sayed responded to Vance later Thursday during a speech in Marquette, describing himself as a Wolverine, not a weasel, who graduated from the
University of Michigan. “You can take your Buckeye and shove it somewhere else,” he said of Vance, who graduated from Ohio State.
El-Sayed was campaigning with US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as part of a swing through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“In America, we don’t discriminate against people for who they love, how they identify, how they pray, the color of their skin,” he said. “We believe in an America big enough for all of us. So don’t you dare come from Ohio to lecture me about America.”
Here are fact checks and takeaways from Vance’s speech:
Temple Israel remarks
Vance reiterated criticism of El-Sayed’s remarks made in the aftermath of the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield this spring, as well as his association with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.”
“In a moment where he should show leadership, he decided to attack the people who were victimized by that crime, and he decided to show empathy for the people who were committing that crime,” Vance said.
Vance was referencing a video statement released after the attack in which El-Sayed said that there was no justification for the attack and condemned the attacker but added that “hurt people hurt people.”
El-Sayed apologized for the comment at a Michigan Democratic Party convention in August and elaborated in a speech to the party’s Jewish Caucus.
Rogers has publicly courted Jewish voters and disaffected Democrats in the general election cycle, though it’s unclear whether the strategy will pull many votes from his opponent.
Green New Deal, ‘defund the police’
Vance at one point claimed El-Sayed is the Democratic Party’s test of extremes to see “just how far can they go in a nice, common-sense Midwestern state like this one,” alluding to El-Sayed’s past comments on the country’s energy future and the “defund the police” movement.
“They’re testing whether you accept someone who says that we should pass the Green New Deal, even if it means destroying our auto industry,” Vance said. “Will you accept somebody who says we have to abandon Detroit’s most vulnerable citizens, black and white, to the criminals rather than empowering our police to go after those criminals?”
Following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, El-Sayed repeatedly backed calls to reallocate funding from policing to public services, such as healthcare, schools and housing.
Advocates contend that approach could help alleviate the poverty, homelessness and mental health issues that are closely linked to crime, while opponents argue reducing police budgets threatens public safety.
A Bridge Michigan analysis found that El-Sayed did at times support the movement to defund the police, including in a 2020 Detroit Public Radio interview and now-deleted tweets.
He’s since told The Detroit News that he “actually never, never called for defunding,” instead trying to help frame the conversation around preventing people from committing crimes in the first place.
El-Sayed publicly advocated for the Green New Deal in 2019. The broad proposal included a goal of zero-carbon emissions but did not mandate when automakers should end the use of fossil fuels.
El-Sayed hasn’t made clean energy a top priority in his Senate campaign, where he has more frequently called to get “money out of politics, money in your pocket and Medicare for All.”
He previously told Bridge that he still sees big investments in clean energy as a ticket out of “problematic systems,” as well as a pathway to relieve one of residents’ biggest recurring concerns: the hit to their pocketbooks.
Mackinac Island, football
Borrowing from Rogers’ campaign playbook, Vance suggested that El-Sayed hates things that are near and dear to Michigan residents.
“Don’t be ashamed of the factory people. Don’t be ashamed of Friday night football. Don’t be ashamed of fireworks on Independence Day,” he told attendees. “Do not be ashamed of Mackinac Island.”
The back-and-forth around whether El-Sayed enjoys popular pastimes began almost immediately after the Aug. 4 primary, when video surfaced of El-Sayed saying, “I hate Mackinac so much” as he walked on the island during his 2018 run for governor.
As a former podcaster and public health official, El-Sayed has discussed whether football is “ethical” and why “fireworks suck” for public health. CNN first reported on those clips, some of which were deleted.
A Bridge Michigan analysis found Republicans have taken some of El-Sayed’s comments out of context, and his campaign says they don’t reflect his current views.
“It’s odd that in a race for US Senate, Mike Rogers and MAGA think their best line of attack is to claim that former high school football captain and lifelong Michigan and Lions football fan Abdul El-Sayed ‘hates football,’” spokesperson Roxie Richner told Bridge in August.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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