Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the US Senate in the upcoming November midterm elections, confronted a heckler on Saturday at a town hall in Michigan who asked him to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Michigan Senate candidate responded, “Sure. Yeah, absolutely,” before turning the question back on the heckler, who identified himself as “Tommy”. Sayed then asked what was behind the question, saying, “Why would you ask me this? What are you implying?”
Tommy responded that he had yet to hear Sayed disavow what he called a “terrorist organisation”. Sayed continued to press him on the implication behind the question.
Sayed then drew a comparison to the backlash that John F Kennedy, the first Catholic president of the US, faced over his religion. Sayed said that he was running for the Senate as an American who happened to be Muslim.
The heckler has since been identified as Thomas Teeple, a former aide to Republican Senator Josh Hawley, according to congressional staff records. Teeple also served as political director for Philip Sarnecki’s Kansas gubernatorial campaign.
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This is not the first time Sayed has been targeted with this line of questioning or attacks, and it has come from many, including his electoral opponent, former Congressman Mike Rogers, who has repeatedly accused Sayed of being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Earlier this month, a leaked group chat revealed that students affiliated with the University of Michigan College Republicans were allegedly offered $200 to travel to Sayed’s town hall in Flint and heckle him with challenging questions to generate negative publicity.
Engineering senior Iman Dashti made the offer to students in the GroupMe general chat on behalf of the conservative political action committee, America Next.
“Bring your friends. Bring your girlfriend,” Dashti wrote in the chat. “Take her out somewhere nice with the $400 you two will make in literally 2.5 hours. All u have to do to get paid is COME AND SHOW OUT AGAINST ABDUL.”
Trump has also targeted Sayed, repeatedly alleging during recent rallies in Georgia and Tennessee that the Senate candidate is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, referring to him as “Mohammed”.
“He’s a jihadist,” Trump said, adding that, as president, he could call Sayed whatever he wanted.
Sayed responded by saying that Trump repeatedly bringing up his name was an attempt to distract Americans from his policies.
Sayed also responded on X to Trump’s mocking and mispronunciation of his first name, when the president said, “His name is actually Abduladadalalalala.”
“He says the name just fine when he’s begging the Qataris for a personal jet or the Saudis for funding for his son-in-law’s private equity firm,” Sayed wrote.
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