Bernie Sanders condemns GOP rhetoric targeting Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Sanders criticizes Republican attacks

Sanders said Republican surrogates, including President Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, had used rhetoric attacking El-Sayed’s ethnicity and religion. Republicans have called El-Sayed a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and suggested his election could endanger Americans.

El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator, has denied ties to the group and condemned the claims. Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groups.

Sanders said voters would reject what he described as ugly attacks. He also condemned Republican support for advertisements that call El-Sayed a terrorist or jihadist.

Dispute over an outside ad

Rep. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed’s former primary opponent, called on him last week to condemn an outside group’s advertisement. The ad linked U.S. military aid to Israel with rising grocery prices, which Stevens characterized as antisemitic.

El-Sayed said Stevens was revisiting a primary that ended three months earlier. On Saturday, he said the advertisement was not made by him and that he disagreed with its contents. Sanders said Michigan voters could disagree with El-Sayed on issues while still supporting him against Rogers, whom Sanders described as a potential rubber stamp for the Trump administration.

El-Sayed and Sanders address concerns

On Sunday, El-Sayed did not name Stevens. He said he was focused on the state’s residents rather than the people discussing him. Sanders, who said he is Jewish and that his father’s family was killed by Hitler, called antisemitism dangerous and intolerable. He said criticism of a right-wing government should not be treated as reflecting the religion of that country’s people.