Live updates: Trump boosts Michigan GOP candidates and tariffs in freewheeling speech
Abdul El-Sayed, the former public health official locked in a tense battle for Michigan’s Democratic Senate nomination, told donors on a recent call that a victory for him could reverberate into 2028.
El-Sayed, who faces Rep. Haley Stevens in next week’s primary, specifically fixated on Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who will be up for a second term that year.
Fetterman won his seat in 2022 with strong ties to populist and progressive voters, but he has taken a more moderate tack since being elected and often stokes speculations that he will switch parties or become an independent.
“So, you know, a big pickup for us could be that John Fetterman seat, right?” El-Sayed told donors, according to audio obtained by NBC News. “They’re going to eff around and give me carte blanche to go take them out. Like, that’s the best thing about the way they’re doing this … if I win, you’re just like, ‘Well, y’all came at me, so now I get to come at you.’”
El-Sayed added that “primarying people like John Fetterman” is something he is “looking forward to” doing.
“And people are like, ‘Ah, we don’t primary the Senate.’ I’m like, ‘Watch me do it,” El-Sayed said. “You know what I mean? Like, tell me, tell me why I should stop. You know what I mean? You’re going to spend $60 million to beat me. OK, two can play at that game. And then what happens is, ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden it starts to sound a lot different.”
Politico first reported on the call.
The “ogre” remark prompted a swift reaction from Stevens’ campaign in a race where the congresswoman’s speaking style and appearance have been critiqued online to the point where El-Sayed has asked his supporters to not partake in the meanspirited sniping.
“Abdul continues with personal insults and making this race about his personal political ambitions and the other 49 states,” said Arik Wolk, a Stevens campaign spokesperson. “Haley is focused on getting things done for Michigan, and only Michigan.”
El-Sayed has used the word “ogre” to describe Fetterman in the past, including in a social media video posted May 12.
Fetterman, in a response via a spokesperson, embraced the depiction of him as an ogre while invoking a Michigan city and comparing El-Sayed to Graham Platner, the populist scandal-plagued former Senate candidate in Maine who shared a consulting firm with El-Sayed. “I pick being Senator Shrek over being the Pontiac Platner any day,” Fetterman said.
Asked about El-Sayed’s comments on the donor call, a spokesperson for his campaign said: “Abdul was clearly speaking metaphorically about the fact that he fully intends to support a primary against John Fetterman, who despite being elected to support the values Abdul fights for has sold out his voters and votes with Trump more than any other Democrat.”