El-Sayed Bumbles, Fumbles, Gaslights As He Tries to Convince Michiganders He Won't Defund the Police

Democrat nominee for Michigan U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed squared off with Republican nominee and former Congressman Mike Rogers for a final debate before the November 3 election.

As my RedState colleague Duke pregamed, the debate was a good one: especially for Mike Rogers. If looks were any indication, Rogers appeared loose, relaxed and the happy warrior ready to rumble. El-Sayed? He looked pasty and sweaty, as if he were fighting off some kind of bug — or maybe he was just feeling that fried chicken he ate the other night — and not in a good way. El-Sayed's delivery when he responded to questions sounded rushed, and he came off anxious and agitated. This screen grab from Townhall's Managing Editor Larry O'Connor says it all. It's almost as if El-Sayed would have preferred to be anywhere but on that debate stage.

Caption this. https://t.co/sWB6jnhx4k

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) October 22, 2026

Like Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in his opening statement, El-Sayed glitched.

WATCH:

Abdul El-Sayed malfunctions while attempting to say how he has worked with law enforcement: "Working alongside law enforcement, improving the, the uh, the operations of our, um of our, uh medical examiner's office.." https://t.co/ctmPHPMsVs

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 21, 2026

Guess his brain is having trouble keeping his lies straight. Rogers simply enjoyed the moment, as he should have. 

But El-Sayed did make it clear that he will work alongside law enforcement — unless that law enforcement is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). El-Sayed stood 10-toes down on his claim that the agency needs to be abolished.

WATCH: 

EL-SAYED: “I believe that we don’t need ICE. In fact, we can go back to INS [pre-9/11] back when we were a lot more safe and secure…and then we need to make sure we have a clear pathway to citizenship.” https://t.co/KHdrTxZJMu

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 21, 2026

I believe that we don't need ICE. In fact, we can go back to INS, back to when we were a lot more safe and secure when it came to immigration. And then, we need to make sure we have a clear pathway to citizenship so that people can come here and take opportunities that are legal for them.

As is his wont, El-Sayed is speaking to facts of which he has no evidence. If the pre-2001 INS agency had been doing its job of vetting, enforcement, and communicating with the other three-letter law enforcement arms about the threats in our midst, 9/11 could have been prevented. There would have been no need for the formation of Homeland Security or ICE had 9/11 not occurred. But El-Sayed has ingested so much of the DSA Kool-Aid that he has no concept of United States history, let alone the American people's desire and commitment to protect our homeland and borders against experiencing the horror of that jihadist infiltration ever again, let alone the socialist destruction the DSA wants to usher in. So, El-Sayed should not be surprised if Americans are suspicious of someone wanting to attain national office for the sole purpose of injecting chaos and dismantling our constitutional republic. 

Make no mistake: El-Sayed wants very badly to defund the police. He has zero interest in keeping American citizens safe. The only enforcement El-Sayed is interested in enacting is what keeps people under the thumb, not ones that help secure the blessings of liberty. 

Mike Rogers ably rebutted El-Sayed's bloviating, protestations and denials to the contrary.

WATCH:

Abdul El-Sayed wants to DEFUND the police and put violent criminals back on the streets of Michigan. Rapist? Murder? Violent criminal? Abdul thinks you should be given a get-out-of-jail-free card. Abdul's policies would make us less safe. https://t.co/z4lTLkGnvP

— Democrats For Mike Rogers (@DemsForMike) October 21, 2026

El-Sayed recently declared once again that the police needed to be defunded.

LISTEN:

Abdul El-Sayed in his own words: “I believe that we do need to defund the police...” https://t.co/bFTnwpnRLB

— Senate Leadership Fund (@Senate_Fund) October 21, 2026

Others on social media have hung on to screen grabs of El-Sayed's posts calling for defunding the police. Here's just a few of those posts El-Sayed purged from his account thinking they would be gone forever. Like an elephant, the internet never forgets.

Reminder: Abdul El-Sayed wants to defund the police. Here are some of the X posts that he deleted. https://t.co/BHNIkBHn82

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 21, 2026

When asked in June about those deleted posts, El-Sayed instead wanted to envision a world of public safety. 

CNN: You deleted thousands of old posts including messages that championed the defund the police movement, why did you take those posts down? EL-SAYED: “Let me just speak to a vision for public safety that I think all of us can agree with.” https://t.co/iDLfW1vrgx

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 9, 2026

And what "public safety" means to El-Sayed is more healthcare and counselors, and less guns.

WATCH:

Abdul El-Sayed on 2A: "When they promised the right to bear arms, they had muskets. So, yeah, everyone should have equal rights to a musket." If the Founding Fathers meant musket, they would have written "musket." COME AND TAKE IT 🇺🇸 https://t.co/oF7U3Ymkek

— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) October 20, 2026

So, which is it? Does El-Sayed support law enforcement or want to defund it? Will the real Abdul El-Sayed please stand up? 

Oh, wait: he already is.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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