Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed apologized to Jewish Democrats on Saturday about comments he made following a March attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue. The apology comes as new polling suggests the Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers remains highly competitive, with surveys showing anything from a narrow Democratic lead to a small Republican advantage. The Michigan Senate contest is expected to play a key role in determining control of the Senate after the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats are defending an open seat following the retirement of Senator Gary Peters, and El-Sayed's candidacy has drawn national attention because of his progressive platform and outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies. The dispute over his comments following the synagogue attack has underscored concerns among some Jewish Democrats and moderates who will likely be crucial in a general election in a battleground state. "My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify,” he told reporters in Lansing after addressing the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, CNN reported.
That was not my intention.” In order to win, political observers have noted El-Sayed must hold together Michigan's progressive, Arab American, Muslim and Jewish Democratic constituencies while also appealing to independents in a state that President Donald Trump carried in 2024. Newsweek reached out to El-Sayed by email Saturday for further comment. According to CNN, El-Sayed apologized Saturday for the comments he made after a March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
In March, Ayman Ghazali crashed his pickup truck into the synagogue after being inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran‑backed militant group, the FBI said Monday. Ghazali recorded a video before the attack at Temple Israel in which he said he wanted to “kill as many of them as I possibly can,” according to Jennifer Runyan, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Detroit. It was a “Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan," she said.
Ghazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights, sat in the synagogue parking lot for several hours before driving his pickup through closed doors and into a hallway near an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself, the FBI said. El-Sayed faced criticism for saying "hurt people hurt people" in a video statement issued after the attack.
Critics, including some Jewish Democratic leaders and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel argued the language appeared to contextualize or excuse the alleged attacker rather than unequivocally condemn the act. "I think most concerning, of course, was the statement that our nominee for U.S. Senate made, which was that ‘hurt people hurt people,’" Nessel explained during a recent interview with The Atlantic’s David Frum.
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