_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Abdul El-Sayed is locked in a tight race with fellow Democrat Haley Stevens for the US Senate nomination in Michigan.
As he campaigns on boilerplate progressive agenda items like Medicare for All and getting “money out of politics,” a series of reports has resurfaced his past support for more extreme policies like defunding police and prison abolition.
_THE FACTS_
El-Sayed's father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, has contributed $200,000 to the super PAC supporting his candidacy.
Tayeb serves on the founding committee of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an organization a federal judge said had "ample evidence" linking to Hamas.
El-Sayed said in June 2020, "I believe that we do need to defund the police," arguing funds should shift from law enforcement to public libraries and schools.
He has since deleted at least a dozen social media posts advocating defund the police policies.
In an August 2020 webinar with a prison abolition group, El-Sayed endorsed "any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons.”
He advocates Medicare for All "from cradle to grave," but his psychiatrist wife does not accept Medicare or any insurance at her private practice.
A former El-Sayed campaign staffer was indicted in June for allegedly engaging in a coordinated campaign to threaten Jewish officials and groups at the University of Michigan.
In April, he held a campaign rally at the University of Michigan with communist-sympathizing streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed privately told staffers he did not want to discuss slain Iranian leader Ali Khamenei because many of his potential supporters in Dearborn were "sad" about his death.
_OUR TAKE_
There’s no doubt that El-Sayed is a radical politician who also has the support of the Democratic Socialists, despite his distancing himself from that label. But he’s also viewed as a dream candidate for the expected Republican nominee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI).
While a growing number of cities in Michigan are becoming increasingly Islamized, and as Muslims and leftists ally to grow their power, it is still a purple state with a large number of moderate voters. In an election cycle expected to favor Democrats, El-Sayed’s nomination may actually be a boon for the GOP.
