Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee compared his "radical" policy positions to Jesus Christ’s teachings during a podcast appearance earlier this year.
During an episode of the Progressive Christians Podcast that aired in May, Abdul El-Sayed was asked how his faith as a Muslim spurs his policies and positions in his campaign for the Senate.
Rev. Blair Stowe, one of the podcast’s hosts, noted that through many progressive races during the midterm election cycle where policies like Medicare for all, being anti-war and resisting corporate money in politics, from the Christian lens, appeared to be "very similar to the teachings of Jesus."
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"And yet, those platforms and those policies are being named radical. And we know that you have been referred to as a radical," Stowe said. "So what do you think about that title, that these things that are, that seem to come very easily from the Christian faith that are shared in the Muslim faith? Like, why is that considered so radical?"
"Well, you know, Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, was considered radical in his time too," El-Sayed responded. "And there is a radical nature to being willing to stand forthright in a time of corruption, and I think it's important for all of us to realize that popularity and zeitgeist don't make truth. And we live in a time where people are trying to normalize corruption."
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El-Sayed is currently locked in a contest that could determine the balance of power in the Senate, and one where his victory against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., shook the Democratic establishment in Washington, D.C.
Republicans see Michigan as a winnable opportunity on their path to maintaining and growing their thin majority in the upper chamber and believe former Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost in his bid for the Senate in 2024 against Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., can topple the insurgent progressive El-Sayed.
And as the campaign has heated up between the two of them, both have used faith as a political cudgel.
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"A radical Muslim with a self-proclaimed ‘obligation’ to Sharia law has gone from excusing violent attacks on Jewish Michiganders to comparing himself to Jesus Christ," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital.
"Abdul El-Sayed is unfit to represent Michigan, and he proves it every time he attacks other faiths," she continued.
During an appearance on the "I’ve Had It" podcast earlier this month, El-Sayed was asked by host Jennifer Welch about Rogers going after him for his Muslim faith, where she accused him of being a "complete Christian hypocrite" over reported ties between members of his faith coalition and the Living Word Church franchise, which has been rocked by child sex abuse scandals.
El-Sayed said Rogers was ignoring the "essential teaching" of Christianity.
"He’s going to hide behind this simulacrum of faith, which clearly, you know, if you followed the teachings of Jesus Christ, it was about upending the system against the richest and most powerful in the ways that they used their power and their money to subjugate other people," El-Sayed said. "Like, that was the essential teaching."
