Second Lady Usha Vance has responded to a comment made by Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, which critics have described as a "racist" remark seemingly questioning whether her husband, Vice President JD Vance's, grandfather would have accepted her.

El-Sayed's comment came after JD Vance criticized El-Sayed's views on Sharia law during a rally in Ohio. The Vice President stated that El-Sayed's stance on Sharia law was incongruent with his own grandfather, whom he referred to as "Papaw." JD Vance recalled El-Sayed arguing that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy.

"He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy," Vance said of El-Sayed, who is the American-born son of Muslim Egyptian immigrants. "I'd love to go back in time and tell my Papaw that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it, you're a White supremacist. That's not my Papaw’s Democratic Party, my friends."

In response, El-Sayed posted on social media, "So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…"

Critics interpreted this remark as an insinuation that Usha Vance, who is of Indian heritage, might not have been accepted by JD Vance's grandparents.

Usha Vance shared her reaction to the comment in an interview with "Fox & Friends," stating, "I have to admit, I kind of laughed." She added that while she never met JD Vance's maternal grandparents, she knows and loves the family they raised, including JD Vance's mother and aunt, who have been "incredibly loving" towards her.

JD Vance was largely raised by his maternal grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance, whom he called "Papaw" and "Mamaw." James Vance died in 1997, and Bonnie Vance died eight years later. JD Vance and Usha Vance met at Yale Law School and married in 2014.

"His aunt is like a second mother to me," Usha Vance said. "And so I have to think that if they raised children like that, they would have been loving as well. And I would have really, really, really loved to have met them."

In his 2016 memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," JD Vance wrote that one of his "great regrets" was that his grandparents never had the opportunity to meet his wife.

El-Sayed later addressed his comment in an interview with MS NOW, saying, "The confusing thing about it is that he thinks that there are some people who are more American than others because they can point to their Papaw who was here earlier. And my question to him is simply: Why is it then, how do you look your parents-in-law in the eye and say that somehow they're less American than you are? Because that's what he's implying there."

El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.