Michigan Dem Nominee Slammed Over Resurfaced Posts

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is facing backlash over resurfaced videos and blog posts, as Republicans work to nationalize one of the 2026 midterms' defining races.

Newly surfaced material includes YouTube videos in which El-Sayed urged Americans to drop July 4th fireworks and floated replacing the Second Amendment, plus an old blog post linking American football to "toxic masculinity."

The Details

CNN reported that in removed videos, El-Sayed asked viewers whether Americans could "PLEASE" find another way to celebrate the Fourth of July, in a clip titled with four reasons "why fireworks suck," and raised replacing the Second Amendment.

Fox News and Breitbart highlighted a resurfaced blog post in which El-Sayed argued that "toxic masculinity" governs American football and that sports culture is rife with misogyny.

Republican critics have also gone after El-Sayed's traveling surrogate, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has previously said America "deserved" 9/11.

Fact Check

FactCheck.org said Republican nominee Mike Rogers offered no evidence for his claim that El-Sayed "believes that America deserved 9/11." El-Sayed said in April that the 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. was not justified.

PolitiFact rated "Pants on Fire" the claim that El-Sayed "openly calls for Sharia law in America," saying a full review of a 2022 speech showed he tied a state Sharia ban to a broader history of discrimination and quoted the U.S. Constitution.