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A Michigan Democrat running for U.S. Senate is facing backlash after a report on leaked audio showing him explaining why he shouldn’t take a public position on the death of former Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei because of people in Dearborn, Michigan, who are “sad.”
Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon, was recorded in a staff meeting strategizing about how to address the Iranian leader’s death after he was killed during U.S. and Israel’s military action in the country.
“I’m just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly,” El-Sayed is heard saying about his response if pressed by a reporter. “I’ll just be like, ‘Pedophile president decides that he doesn’t like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war.'”
El-Sayed also told his team, in reference to the significant Muslim population in Dearborn, “I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I don’t think it’s worth even touching that.”
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Abdul El- Sayed attends the Detroit Association of Black Organizations (DABO) Christmas Party 2025 at the Bridge Center on Dec. 16, 2025, in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Monica Morgan/Getty Images)
The report sparked immediate backlash from Republicans and conservatives on social media, as well as from Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who told Fox News Digital, “Abdul continues to expose how extreme the Democrat party has become.”
“Rather than empathize with the 140 kids whose lives were threatened in the Michigan synagogue attack, the thousands of Americans murdered by Iran, or the victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism around the world, he instead, chooses to empathize with the terrorists who committed these vile acts,” Rogers said. “And now, to campaign with a known antisemite who claimed “America deserved 9/11. Each time you think the Democrats can’t get lower, they pick up the shovel and keep digging.”
“Speaks volumes about the level of extremism within the El-Sayed coalition here,” Fox News radio political analyst Josh Kraushaar posted on X.
“Democrats have an abundance of riches to choose from when selecting which one of their Senate candidates is the craziest, most radical, and most anti-American,” GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno posted on X.
“Beyond parody,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X.
“Well this is insane,” GOP adviser Nathan Brand posted on X.
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U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and embraced comparisons between him and Zohran Mamdani. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
“Anyone who is sad that the Ayatollah is dead should be deported,” Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Jason Bedrick posted on X.
“Disgraceful,” the Republican Jewish Coalition posted on X.
In a post on X, former Biden-Harris surrogate Kevin Walling called the news “disqualifying.”
On Monday afternoon, El-Sayed’s campaign released a statement calling the report a “distraction.”
“Since this illegal and unjustifiable war has started, we’ve watched 13 brave service members lose their lives,” El-Sayed said. “We’ve watched our tax dollars wasted to raise our gas prices. We’re paying over a dollar a gallon more, making life even more unlivable. Americans are paying with their lives and livelihoods for a war MAGA swore they’d never take us into.”
The statement continued, “The fact that a rightwing news outlet may have illegally and unethically obtained a deliberation about how to talk about this by way of a disgruntled former employee is only a distraction. They’re distracting from the fact that Donald Trump, Mike Rogers, the entire MAGA base doesn’t want to talk about the pain they’re forcing us all into.”
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El-Sayed, who is Muslim, recently faced controversy for agreeing to team up with Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11.”
Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary will be held on Aug 4 as El-Sayed squares off against Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters.
The Cook Political report ranks the race as a “toss up” heading into November’s consequential midterms.
