Michigan’s Senate race swerved into personal territory Monday after Vice President JD Vance called Democrat Abdul El-Sayed “very, very evil” and warned him to stop talking about his wife, Usha.
The fight is playing out as El-Sayed tries to defeat former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., in the race for the seat held by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., this November in a battleground state.
At a metro Detroit rally hosted by MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC, Vance tied El-Sayed to what he called a darker political force.
“There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Vance said.
But the vice president’s most personal warning centered on Usha Vance, whose name El-Sayed had dragged into a dispute over Sharia law, family roots and immigration.
Vance on El-Sayed: What I see is a man who has sympathy and compassion for people who share his religion but have nothing for people who don't. That is the root of this terrible evil, I believe, in the United States of America that is on the rise pic.twitter.com/IaxrCc8nL3
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 31, 2026
The back-and-forth began after Vance suggested Sharia law would have sounded foreign to his grandfather.
El-Sayed responded by asking whether “JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no.”
El-Sayed later cast the remark as a response to Vance suggesting some people are “more American” because their families have lived in the country longer. He also pointed to Vance’s immigrant in-laws.
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Vance saw the line as something else entirely. “I actually think that the people of Michigan think it’s kind of weird when you talk about another guy’s wife,” Vance said.
The vice president pushed El-Sayed toward auto-worker policy instead, accusing him of backing positions that had undercut wages and jobs for Michigan workers.
“I think the people of Michigan would like you to talk about the public policy ideas …I think the people of Michigan would like you to talk about how you’re going to protect auto workers when you’re supporting every single policy that has undercut the wages and jobs of Michigan auto workers your entire life in public service,” Vance stated.
He then made the wife warning unmistakable. “But whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth because she’s way out of your league,” Vance continued.
NEW: VP Vance has one simple message for Abdul El-Sayed after continuously bringing up Second Lady Usha Vance:
"Keep my wife's name the hell out of your mouth because she's way out of your league." pic.twitter.com/Cr7UFuk5gF
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 31, 2026
Vance also folded truck drivers into the attack, telling the rally El-Sayed had supported driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.
“We’re here to talk about protecting Michigan truck drivers, but also protecting the safety of every single person who drives on the road with a semi truck, which is all of us,” Vance remarked.
The vice president said El-Sayed “would love to undercut the wages of American truckers.”
Collins: Do you want to respond to what the vice president said today, saying that there is something that is, quote, “very, very evil” about you?
El-Sayed: Well, let me tell you what’s evil. Evil is the idea of starting wars when there is peace. Evil is the idea of stripping… pic.twitter.com/YebRMCKRDB
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2026
Hours later, El-Sayed used CNN to turn the “evil” label back on Republicans.
“Well, let me tell you what’s evil,” El-Sayed told Kaitlan Collins. “Evil is the idea of starting wars when there’s peace.”
“Evil is the idea of stripping away people’s healthcare when they absolutely have no other option. What’s evil is to do that, so that you can pass a tax cut for billionaires.”
He also accused Vance of personal corruption in pursuit of influence.
“What’s evil is putting a data center that people don’t want in their backyard, to spite them. What’s evil is corrupting yourself because you want a little bit more power,” El-Sayed added.
El-Sayed’s online response hit similar themes, accusing Republicans of trading working people’s healthcare for billionaire tax breaks, making groceries and gas more expensive and pushing “trade wars and actual war.”
He wrote that Michigan was “better than being lectured to by sock puppets from Ohio and Florida” and predicted voters would “send Mike Rogers packing.”
Conman Abdul El-Sayed — too extreme, and too weird for Michigan. pic.twitter.com/UqFmGXCcUB
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersForMI) August 31, 2026
Rogers, meanwhile, has been trying to make El-Sayed’s own comments the problem.
A campaign ad from Rogers used Fox News clips, an OnlyFans reference and El-Sayed’s remarks about Usha Vance to paint him as bizarre.
“We’ve decided he’s just weird!” Fox News host Laura Ingraham says at the start of the ad.
The spot includes El-Sayed asking Jesse Watters, “Are you circumcised?” during a debate over sex-rejection surgeries for minors.
It also uses El-Sayed’s comments about Usha Vance listening to her husband speak.
“What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks?” El-Sayed asks in the clip.
“She’s like, ‘Damn I have to sleep with him,’” he jokes.
He then laughs and adds, “I mean, I guess she’s pregnant, so I guess something’s happening.”
The Rogers ad also includes El-Sayed describing his Instagram feed.
“And, like, the things that I actually look at on Instagram,” El-Sayed said. “Every third video that scrolls on its own is going to be some OnlyFans model.”
Critics pointed to Instagram’s algorithm, which tailors content around a user’s interests and viewing activity, to suggest El-Sayed was seeing OnlyFans material because of his own behavior on the app.
“Abdul, Michigan’s not going for that,” Watters says near the end of the ad. “That is sick stuff.”
Rogers promoted the ad by calling El-Sayed “too extreme, and too weird for Michigan.”
El-Sayed had another old comment resurface Monday on “The Breakfast Club,” where host Charlamagne tha God asked about his support for defunding the police and criticism of Fourth of July fireworks.
“They’re coming at me on fireworks,” El-Sayed told the host. “I’m like, ‘All right, first, if your whole conception of America is that it’s fireworks, I’m so sorry. You don’t have a complete conception of America. But even then, right, like what is it?’”
He said his concern was not ending fireworks, but the air-quality damage, asthma flare-ups and heart attacks that he said follow fireworks shows.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have fireworks,” El-Sayed continued. “I’m just saying maybe like there are other ways to show your love.”
CNN reported earlier this month that about 100 videos were deleted or hidden from El-Sayed’s YouTube account before his Senate campaign launch.
One of those videos asked Americans to “please” find another Fourth of July celebration besides fireworks, citing air quality and risks to children and pets.
The video also allegedly included four reasons “why fireworks suck” and a chapter titled “Fireworks just aren’t worth it: hear us out.”
