Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has doubled down on his use of aggressive rhetoric when discussing Republican opposition, stating that Democrats must be prepared to fight back against what he described as bullying tactics.
In a recent interview with CBS anchor Major Garrett, El-Sayed addressed past controversial statements, including a remark that he believes Democrats should not simply "go high" when Republicans "go low," but rather engage them forcefully. El-Sayed elaborated on this by saying, "if they're going to show up and try to bully us, don’t be surprised when we hit back. I won't start the fight, but I’ll end it." This approach appears to be a variation on his past declaration at a rally where he stated, "When they go low, we don't go high. We take them to the mud and choke them out."
El-Sayed, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for Michigan's Senate seat in 2026, has also faced scrutiny for comments made in response to an attack on a synagogue in March, where he noted that "hurt people hurt people." Additionally, he has recently removed some past social media posts related to defunding the police.
When pressed by Garrett about campaigning with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, El-Sayed argued for holding individuals accountable for their own words rather than those of people around them. "It tends to be in the real world. We hold people accountable for what they said, not what somebody around them said," El-Sayed stated. He characterized this focus on associations as a "funny gotcha game that Democrats love to play and Republicans love to play, which I think people are sick and tired of in politics."