El-Sayed Campaign Faces Scrutiny Over Website Statement Praising Synagogue Attacker

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's campaign is under fire after a statement endorsing a trucker who targeted a synagogue appeared on his website. The text, discovered by former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson, read, "it was and he should have done it." It was found within a transcript of El-Sayed's response to the March attack at Temple Israel and its preschool in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Johnson alerted El-Sayed's campaign to the passage this spring, and the text was subsequently removed. However, Johnson stated he has not received satisfactory answers regarding how the statement appeared on the website or whether any investigation into its origin was conducted. He publicly raised the issue again on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

"Clearly there’s been an error. Who’s error that was – I’m asking," Johnson told The Post. Johnson, who has experience in political campaigns, believes access to internal campaign materials is typically tightly controlled. He also expressed doubt that El-Sayed himself authored the offensive line.

"Now if it was a transcript error, say that. Was it an individual who purposely edited that statement? Then was there ever an attempt to find who they were and to fire them? These are simple questions," Johnson said.

The offensive text emerged amid criticism of El-Sayed's initial response to the synagogue attack. He had stated, "hurt people hurt people," a comment that drew backlash, leading to an apology from El-Sayed in August for the framing of his remarks. The statement containing the added line appeared after El-Sayed had already stated that violence could never be justified.

The Post has contacted El-Sayed's campaign for comment regarding the origin of the text and any actions taken, but received no response.

Johnson also co-authored an op-ed in the Detroit News suggesting that El-Sayed failed to unite Democrats, including supporters of rival Rep. Haley Stevens. The op-ed also referenced El-Sayed's prior reluctance to state whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the U.S. during a debate and his refusal at a University of Michigan event to condemn Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, instead criticizing U.S. military interventions abroad.

In the op-ed, Johnson and coauthor David Kramer advised voters to cast blank ballots rather than vote for El-Sayed or his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers. They argued that El-Sayed had a responsibility to unify Democrats but instead dismissed concerns and failed to provide necessary clarity.