It's been two weeks since Michigan Democrats decided who their Senate nominee was going to be, and, in a nailbiter, it ended up being DSA-backed former Wayne County health department director Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11) by less than 5,000 votes out of the over 1.5 million cast, despite polls showing him running away with it by double digits.
The question about the accuracy (or lack thereof) of primary polling in recent races is already being analyzed, and the findings are quite interesting, as my RedState colleague Becky Noble reported earlier. But one thing that the primary results confirmed is that the anti-America, anti-Israel Democrat has problems with a number of key voting blocs critical for Democrat victories, including Jewish voters and black voters.
READ MORE: Dems May End Up Kicking Themselves With What the Data Now Says About Michigan Senate Race
The Democrats' El-Sayed Problem Just Got Real, and the Political Price Could Be Huge
His Republican opponent, Trump-backed former congressman Mike Rogers, has already capitalized on this, launching an outreach campaign shortly after the primary that is designed to (hopefully) peel off some disaffected voters from the Democrat camp come November.
El-Sayed's "outreach," meanwhile, appears to be to try and connect with black voters by proclaiming that he, too, is a "proud" African, because his parents are from Egypt. This came after a question from someone in the crowd about older black voters during a campaign stop.
"I am Arab," he said, while adding, "I'm also African."
Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed desperately attempts to appeal to black voters who overwhelmingly voted for his opponent in the primary:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 19, 2026
“I’m also African." pic.twitter.com/cgnJH6VNve
When I first saw this clip, my mouth dropped open, because I remember that it would drive Democrats crazy when Elon Musk would remind them that he technically is an African-American (born in South Africa). It's just not something that goes over well with some Democrats, both black and white.
But then I stumbled upon a longer, contextual version of this clip taken from a different angle, where it showed a black purported heckler in the crowd being blocked by people who presumably were El-Sayed's handlers, after repeatedly yelling that El-Sayed was Arab and "don't care about black folks":
“He’s an Arab, he don’t care about Black folks,” a heckler shouts at Abdul El-Sayed at a press conference in Detroit. State Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, speaking at the podium, says, “hate has no place” here. pic.twitter.com/bKM7cx0SbH
— Sam Robinson (@samueljrob) August 19, 2026
Moments later came El-Sayed's "African" comment, where he gave a measured answer about "divisions" that honestly sounded like it had been prepared/scripted, especially the part where he offered an olive branch in seeking to speak with the alleged heckler to try and better understand him:
“I am Arab, I’m also African,” El-Sayed says in response to heckler.
— Sam Robinson (@samueljrob) August 19, 2026
“I’d love the opportunity to sit down with that gentleman,” El-Sayed says. pic.twitter.com/wrfeX8KPJE
That certainly was awfully convenient timing, wasn't it? If one didn't know any better (and we don't), one would almost think it was a setup.
Even if it wasn't, the answer was still maximum cringe for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was El-Sayed of all people complaining about those who seek to divide us by putting us in groups and pitting us against each other. It was rich, honestly, considering that tactic took center stage in his primary campaign and, in fact, is a feature, not a bug, of most Democrat campaigns, for that matter.
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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