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Abdul El-Sayed sparked online controversy moments after capturing the Democratic Party’s nomination in Michigan’s Senate race for his word choice in challenging Republican nominee Mike Rogers to a series of five debates.
“I know you’re going to say no because you’re a coward. Five debates. All right?” El-Sayed said.
“You and I both know that you will wither in front of your own crimes, but I’m gonna make sure Michiganders know about them. By the time we’re done, you are not going to have safe quarter from people holding you accountable for what you’ve done,” El-Sayed continued.
The language of “safe quarter” is raising eyebrows among viewers online.
The online backlash demonstrates how closely the Michigan Senate race is being watched across the country and how viewers are analyzing every move of El-Sayed in particular.
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The former local public health official succeeded in his race against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a more establishment candidate with the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., despite being heavily outspent.
His campaign has been a proxy for larger questions in the Democratic Party of whether the progressive label and promises of aggressively expanded public sector involvement will resonate with its base over the relative safety of establishment messaging.
But it has also invited scrutiny.
Conservatives ripped El-Sayed on social media for attacking Rogers’ out-of-state vacation home while he owned multiple rental properties overseas. Doug Powers, a longtime editor and contributor for Twitchy, believes it clashes with El-Sayed’s financial disclosures revealing that he owns property not just out of the state but also overseas.
“If I’m the Rogers campaign, I’m putting this in an ad. ‘A socialist who owns property in Dubai and India is attacking me for having a vacation house in Florida while threatening me in my home state?’” Powers wrote in his own post to social media.
“’No safe quarter from people holding you accountable’ is commie messaging,” he added.
“The easy rebuttal for Mike Rogers here is to point out that El-Sayed owns property in a luxury development in Dubai,” Chuck Ross, an investigative reporter for The Washington Free Beacon, pointed out.
“Is Dubai in Florida?” yet another account wrote.
Fox News Digital previously reported that El-Sayed’s most recent financial disclosure exposes how El-Sayed and his wife own at least two foreign properties in Bangalore, India and Dubai. The Dubai property is worth up to $250,000.
Other conservatives slammed El-Sayed for the tone of his message and suggested it was putting a target on the back of his Republican rival.
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Scott Jennings, the conservative political personality and media commentator on CNN, bashed El-Sayed’s phrasing at the victory press conference.
“Abdul el Sayed threatening the safety of his opponent while the Jewish Democrat AG of Michigan says she can’t go to a Dem convention because she’s not safe, either. Does everyone see what’s happening here?” Jennings wrote in a post to X, referring to recent developments in the Wolverine state over anti-Semitic comments.
Brian Newberry, a Rhode Island state representative and former minority leader, echoed Jenning’s concern.
“Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, who pals around with [a] guy who celebrates 9/11, tells his Republican opponent that he will ‘not have safe quarter’ in his home state. Who the hell does this guy think he is?” Newberry wrote, hinting at El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker, a progressive streamer who has drawn backlash for past comments of his own.
“And will any — and I mean ANY — Democrat condemn this rhetoric?”
AG Hamilton, a popular conservative X account, called on El-Sayed to bring more clarity to the statement.
“Someone should ask el Sayed what exactly this means because it certainly comes off as a threat of political violence aimed at his opponent,” the account wrote.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the phrasing or on whether the online reactions were overblown.
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In his remarks on Wednesday morning, El-Sayed continued to press his case against Rogers.
“Mike Rogers is a guy whose politics and vision and perspective are old. Mike Rogers is a guy who has never shied away from a corporation he could do a favor for,” El-Sayed said.
“If you want a senator who’s going to lick some boots, fine. Go vote for Mike Rogers. But if you want a senator who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you’ve got your option right here.”
With the Democratic primary in the rearview mirror, El-Sayed will face off against Rogers in the state’s general election Nov. 3.
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