El-Sayed comes under fire for ‘ogre on a pike’ leaked comment

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing backlash from within his own party after using controversial rhetoric to describe the stakes of his victory in a recent donor meeting.

“If I win … well y’all came at me so now I get to come at you, and you know, primarying people like John Fetterman, I have no problem to do that,” he said, according to audio of a Zoom meeting obtained by POLITICO. “Ideally you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” El-Sayed added later, referencing how he could help propel the progressive moment.

On Monday, several Democrats were quick to slam his comments.

“Violent, vulgar threats have no place in a democratic electoral contest,” said Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.). “With political violence on the rise, we need to be doing everything we can to lower the temperature — not raise it. It’s the American people who suffer most when we degrade the political process this way.”

Some took El-Sayed’s remarks as an attack on the party. Shannon Watts, founder of gun violence prevention group Moms Demand Action, said on X that El-Sayed “doesn’t mean Republicans.”

Another gun control activist, Fred Guttenberg, wrote: “That is what Abdul El-Sayed and his DSA movement think of Democrats and the party.” Guttenberg — whose daughter was killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting — urged Michiganders to support El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, and “show AES the loss he deserves.”

An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson referred POLITICO back to an earlier statement that the candidate was “speaking metaphorically” about his intention to support a primary against Fetterman, a Pennsylvania senator. Fetterman and El-Sayed have clashed over support for Israel.

The senator, who possesses a towering stature, has been mocked for his physical appearance by political rivals, and the “ogre” moniker partly stems from an attack by Kari Lake, a failed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate and ally of President Donald Trump.

“I pick being Senator Shrek over being the Pontiac Platner any day,” Fetterman said in a statement, referencing former Senate Maine Democratic nominee Graham Platner, who ended his campaign following a sexual assault allegation against him.

El-Sayed’s leaked comments and the reaction to them amount to another flashpoint in a tense primary that is dividing the progressive and moderate wings of the party, and at times has been defined by accusations of racism and sexism.

A few Democrats assumed the candidate’s comments were a reference to Stevens, though El-Sayed had not explicitly mentioned his opponent in the portion of the call POLITICO reviewed.

“Calling your female opponent an ogre you want to put on a pike is not beating the rap that this race has some serious sexism,” Neera Tanden, a centrist Democrat and president of the Center for American Progress, posted on X. Melissa Byrne, a former staffer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), called the remark an “unforced error” that is “really bad and beneath the progressive project.” She later deleted the post.

“Abdul continues with personal insults and making this race about his personal political ambitions and the other 49 states,” said Arik Wolk, spokesperson for the Stevens campaign. “Haley is focused on getting things done for Michigan, and only Michigan.”

Republicans, too, jumped on the comment, with some leaning into stereotypes of El-Sayed’s religion as a Muslim. “Michigan Islamist discusses beheading his opponents,” said Steve Guest, a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, on X. 

This is not the first time El-Sayed has used — and defended — aggressive political rhetoric. “When they go low, we don’t go high,” the progressive said while speaking at a campaign rally earlier this year, riffing on a famous line from former first lady Michelle Obama. “We take them to the mud and choke them out.”

He and Stevens will face off in their final Democratic Senate debate Monday night, and the results of the Aug. 4 primary could have major consequences for the party as it grapples with its ideological tack ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

​Politics