El-Sayed turns heckler's Muslim Brotherhood question into viral moment

Rogers tells CNN El-Sayed failed to adequately disavow the Muslim Brotherhood

The exchange took place Saturday at a town hall in Caro, Michigan, a town northeast of Flint. Thomas Teepell, who identified himself as Tommy, asked El-Sayed: “I have one simple question. Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?” El-Sayed responded, “sure, yeah, absolutely,” before challenging the premise. “Why are you asking the question?” Teepell replied, “because they’re a terrorist group.”

El-Sayed went on to draw a parallel to questions President John F. Kennedy faced as a Catholic. “You’re asking the question because implicitly, you assume that I’ll have dual loyalties, right?” El-Sayed said. “I’m not running to be a Muslim senator, I’m running for U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.” Teepell appeared to walk away after El-Sayed’s response.

The exchange spread on social media over the following days. El-Sayed posted the clip on X with the caption: “This is Tommy. Tommy had a question about my allegiances. Listen to the end to hear about his.” By Monday, his post had garnered 13 million views, according to The Wall Street Journal, which identified Teepell as a former staffer for Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and for a failed Republican candidate for governor in Kansas. The newspaper described the exchange as the latest in a series of incidents focused on El-Sayed’s religious background, which El-Sayed has previously described as bigoted.

Republicans have capitalized on El-Sayed’s religion and his views on Israel as potential vulnerabilities for the candidate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rogers, El-Sayed’s opponent, separately accused him of funding his campaign with money from terrorist groups in a speech about Islamist terrorism in the U.S. El-Sayed’s campaign has promoted the viral clips; President Trump and Rogers have argued that such questions are fair amid concerns over religious extremism.

Rogers, appearing on CNN, argued El-Sayed had not adequately disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood during the exchange. “He didn’t disavow it,” Rogers said. “He goes on this word salad trying to get around the fact that he can’t do it.” The host, Dana Bash, pushed back, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Muslim Brotherhood refers to a network of organizations involved in regional Islamist movements, with distinct groups in several Middle Eastern countries. The Trump administration has designated some branches of the organization as terrorist groups, The Wall Street Journal reported.

El-Sayed won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary on a platform that opposed aid to Israel, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat who supports Israel. Rogers has attacked El-Sayed over his Israel stance as well.

El-Sayed has also faced criticism for campaigning with Hasan Piker, a left-wing political streamer. Republicans have described Piker as anti-American and pointed to his 2019 remark that “America deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed has said he does not agree with those statements.