Watters called El-Sayed ‘compelling’ but said he didn’t trust him
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, has concentrated roughly two-thirds of his post-primary television ad spending on a single spot featuring his white step-grandparents and their Michigan roots, according to data from AdImpact reported by The Wall Street Journal. The campaign has aired more than a dozen different ads in the three weeks since he won the primary, but the family-roots spot is where the dollars are heaviest.
The 41-year-old former public-health official faces former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in a state President Trump won by 1.4 percentage points in 2024. If elected, El-Sayed would be the nation’s first Muslim senator. Republicans have used language that Michigan pollster Richard Czuba described to the Journal as coded references to his name and religion, and the ad is built to push back on that framing.
In the spot, El-Sayed’s step-grandmother opens by mocking any notion that he is foreign. “Where did Abdul El-Sayed come from?,” she asks in a menacing tone, before answering with a smile, “Here. We’re his grandparents!”
El-Sayed’s broader general-election pitch was on display in a 25-minute Fox News interview with Jesse Watters. The candidate repeatedly described 63-year-old Rogers as a “beta” — online slang for someone considered weak or passive — and rerouted Watters’ questions about Shariah law, immigration enforcement and transgender athletes to economic concerns.
“The issue that people are worried about isn’t that somehow somebody’s going to push Shariah law on them,” El-Sayed said during the interview. “The issue in Michigan is people are worried about how they’re going to afford their gas. The issue in Michigan is, ‘How am I going to see a doctor when I’m sick? How am I going to keep my job?’”
Watters laughed repeatedly during the exchange. The day after the interview, Watters said El-Sayed was “compelling” and “kind of a guy’s guy” but added, “I don’t trust him.” He continued, “You know, I like him. I don’t want to like him. I like him for some stupid reason, but he’s not right for Michigan.”
Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said El-Sayed had accomplished two goals in the appearance. “His goal was to not be scary, to not be the monster that they’re going to try to make him out to be,” Madrid said. “That, first and foremost, I think was the objective and the second was to reassure and remind the base that they can win in enemy territory.” If executed effectively, Madrid added, “it starts to cement you in the center with those voters that you need to win.”
El-Sayed spokesman Cole Wozniak said the Fox appearance was part of the campaign’s broader effort not to write off any voters. “Abdul isn’t afraid of a fight,” Wozniak said. “He has spent this entire campaign showing up, taking tough questions and making his case directly to voters. As Republicans lean on tired tropes, culture wars and no solutions, our campaign will continue to show that Abdul is as Michigan as it gets.”
Appearing on Fox is increasingly part of the playbook some Democrats — including potential 2028 presidential contenders — have adopted to engage with the network’s conservative audience, the Journal reported.
El-Sayed identifies as a progressive populist and has repeatedly rejected the label of socialist, describing himself as a capitalist. He is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America but has support from many in the movement. He supports Medicare for All, taxpayer-subsidized child care and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and has called Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. He is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Democrats took a risk by nominating El-Sayed over Rep. Haley Stevens, who argued throughout the primary that her opponents’ far-left views would turn off swing voters in November’s election. El-Sayed defeated Stevens by less than 1 percentage point earlier this month. His victory was buoyed by support from young voters and highly educated voters; Democratic strategists told the Journal that part of his strength with young voters stems from his age and his fluency with internet culture.
His rise comes as Democrats remain divided about how to start winning national elections again. One wing argues that battleground states are won by courting independent voters with moderation, while another thinks voters are eager for dramatic change in an environment of widespread skepticism in government and widening economic disparity.
On the campaign trail, El-Sayed frequently wears a fitted black T-shirt that displays his fitness; in one recent online fundraising pitch, he is shown rock climbing indoors, arm muscles bulging. During the primary, he teamed up with streamer Hasan Piker, who has 3.1 million followers on Twitch, to court young voters. Piker’s rise has become a source of tension within the Democratic Party. In the last week, El-Sayed distanced himself from Piker after the streamer suggested that American Jews’ support for Israel could put them at risk.
The Journal’s reporting extends MSI’s earlier coverage of El-Sayed’s general-election outreach, including his lengthy Fox News interview with Jesse Watters. El-Sayed sits for lengthy Fox News interview with Jesse Watters