Things haven't been going well for Democrat Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the final days before the election.
It's going to be a tight race with his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers. But he's been constantly embroiled in controversy, and mostly of his own making, because of his extreme positions.
Those positions and obnoxious response to his former Democrat primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), finally pushed her to endorse Rogers in a stunning rebuke of El-Sayed, as she put country before party in a courageous move.
But El-Sayed just can't seem to shut off the radical nature of his thinking, and he revealed that again in an interview he unwisely gave to "60 Minutes." As my colleague Rusty Weiss reported, his answer to the question of men in girls' locker rooms was vile.
.@AbdulElSayed says it’s ok for MEN to be in girl’s locker rooms.
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersForMI) November 2, 2026
Why?
“Well because they are going to find out about it on the internet anyway”
Completely unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/eXeh70kkeP
If "the most important thing you can do is not try to protect a person from seeing a thing," why is his wife's head covered? It's a bizarre argument that's going to have Michiganders going, "Huh?" and thinking they can't support this kind of thinking.
But that wasn't the only bizarre hot take from El-Sayed in the interview. He's already gotten himself in all kinds of hot water over his position on Israel, and he added more to it in this interview. Talk about another disqualifying comment (and he's had so many); this might be it. Ross Douthat asks him if Palestine has a right to exist. He immediately says yes, without any equivocation. Then comes the response to, "Does Israel have the right to exist?"
Abdul El-Sayed, running as a Democrat to represent Michigan in the Senate, discusses Palestinian and Israeli issues with 60 Minutes’ Ross Douthat. https://t.co/0tUeaUFShn
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 2, 2026
"Yes, if there is a shared understanding...," he says, making Israel's right to exist conditional.
Douthat immediately sees the problem: "Wait, but you said..."
El-Sayed cuts him off, which is what he often does with reporters.
"I believe we start from where we sit, rather than start from principles...If the Palestinian people decide, and the Israeli people decide that they want two states for two people, and they decide that on equal terms, I’m for it. If they decide that they want one state shared in a different way, I’m for that.”
Wait a second here. If we start from where we sit, Israel is a state that exists. "Palestine" is not. Yet, he is putting conditions on Israel's right to exist? And those conditions involve the people who don't want Israel to exist? Yikes.
Then, too, does he not know that there have been multiple efforts to offer a two-state solution over the years that have failed, or is he just pretending like we don't all know that?
Then he wonders why people have concerns about him?
Pro tip too for Abdul? Israel is our ally, as any U.S. senator should know. Hamas is not. If he doesn't know that, he doesn't belong in the Senate. And he's not supposed to be running to represent "Palestine." He can't avoid the concerns about him, because he keeps compounding them.
Come on, Michigan, get out and vote so we don't have to deal with this person again.
His response did not go over well.
Bill Clinton says Yasser Arafat turned down a state on 96% of the West Bank, land swaps and a capital in East Jerusalem. Hamas later spent years building tunnels and rockets in Gaza, directing enormous resources toward war instead of improving Palestinian lives. Asked by 60 Minutes if Palestine has the right to exist, Abdul El-Sayed said yes. Asked about Israel, he said yes, "if there is a shared understanding." How did the country that already exists become the one whose existence is negotiable?
— Will Ricciardella (@WillRicci) November 2, 2026
There can only be an Israel if those who seek to destroy it agree to let it exist. Insane.
— Josh Block (@JoshBlockDC) November 2, 2026
Why is there any confusion about this radical Democrat US Senate candidate in Michigan? Abdul El-Sayed has told and continues to tell us who he is.
— HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) November 2, 2026
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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