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Apology After Synagogue Attack
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed apologized to Jewish Democrats on Saturday after comments he made following a March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
“My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify”
El-Sayed told reporters in Lansing, “My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify,” and added, “To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”
The FBI said the March attack was inspired by Hezbollah, and the FBI’s Jennifer Runyan described it as “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan.”
The New York Times reported that El-Sayed said, “I made a mistake,” and told the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus at a party convention in Lansing that he should have issued a statement condemning the attack “and it just should have been the full stop.”
Critics, Supporters, and Polls
Jewish Democrats who were in the room for El-Sayed’s apology told CNN they considered his outreach sincere, with Daniel Rivkin saying, “That was the first time that I’ve heard him say it in that explicit way.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the most concerning part was El-Sayed’s phrase “hurt people hurt people,” explaining, “I think most concerning, of course, was the statement that our nominee for U.S. Senate made, which was that ‘hurt people hurt people,’”
Polling described by Newsweek’s polling tracker showed a closely contested race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, with a RealClearPolling average published this week showing El-Sayed leading Rogers by about 1.8 percentage points, 46.3 percent to 44.5 percent.
An EPIC-MRA survey conducted August 22-28 among 600 likely voters found El-Sayed leading Rogers 47 percent to 43 percent, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points, while the underlying polls were described as mixed.
CNN also reported El-Sayed downplayed the importance of his relationship with Hasan Piker, telling the network, “But I don’t want to have a conversation about a Twitch streamer in California. It’s just not a serious conversation.”
Race Stakes and Next Moves
El-Sayed’s apology came as he tried to unify Democrats ahead of a November general election against Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, with the outcome expected to play a key role in determining control of the Senate after the 2026 midterm elections.
“scrambling this weekend to try to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats”
Newsweek reported that Democrats are defending an open seat following the retirement of Senator Gary Peters, and that El-Sayed’s candidacy has drawn national attention because of his progressive platform and outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies.
CNN said El-Sayed was “scrambling this weekend to try to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats” and that he was meeting individually and with groups of Jewish party leaders before November.
The New York Times reported El-Sayed told the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus that “nobody deserves to have their pain trampled on,” while also saying his attempt to “offer broader context” had “inadvertently trampled on” the “dignity” of fear and pain.
In response, Rogers accused El-Sayed of “trying to con Michiganders into thinking his beliefs have changed,” saying, “Abdul has had six months to apologize for his incredibly horrific remarks regarding the Temple Israel attack.”