Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rebuked Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed’s views on Jews and Israel on Thursday, marking notable pushback in the battleground race from one of his party’s top power players.
Pelosi, a longtime leader of House Democrats, sent the message that some of el Sayed’s positions are alarming as he hits the homestretch of his campaign against Republican Mike Rogers, who hopes to flip the Senate seat red.
During an appearance on the On Brand podcast swiftly highlighted by Rogers’s Democratic allies, Pelosi responded to el Sayed’s refusal to say Israel has a right to exist.
“It’s more than concerning. It’s wrong,” the former House speaker told host Donny Deutsch. “It’s wrong, and it isn’t a reflection of the Democrats in the Congress of the United States. This new person in Michigan, we’ll see if he gets elected to the Congress.”
El Sayed has repeatedly declined to affirm Israel’s existence, triggering concerns about his support for Jews. El Sayed’s move to repeatedly campaign with Hasan Piker, a socialist Twitch streamer-turned-political activist, has also stirred criticism, due to concerns that Piker is openly antisemitic. Piker has expressed support for Hamas, framing the terrorist group that controls Gaza and supports the elimination of Israel as a critical part of the “Palestinian resistance.”
Pelosi is not the first establishment Democrat to distance herself from el Sayed.
After expressing concern over his views on Jews, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a more centrist Democrat who lost to el Sayed in the primary, said Wednesday that she would not campaign for her former rival in the final days of the race, though she later reversed that decision.
HALEY STEVENS’S DEMOCRATIC FIANCE BACKS MIKE ROGERS, SAYS EL SAYED IMPERILS JEWISH COMMUNITY
Stevens’s former campaign chairman, David Kramer, refused to back el Sayed after the brutal primary, citing concerns about his attitude toward Jews. Similar to Kramer, Stevens’s fiance, Jason Turkish, also said this week he is supporting Rogers, saying he was upset that el Sayed refused to say earlier this month whether Iran or Israel poses a greater threat to the United States.
El Sayed believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in its war against Hamas, which is backed by Iran. He backs pulling all U.S. aid from Israel. El Sayed has condemned Trump’s war in Iran and declined to endorse the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei because “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad” about his death.