Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed sharply rebuked his Republican rival Mike Rogers on Sunday, accusing him of invoking the Muslim Brotherhood solely because 'he really wanted to repeat the word Muslim.' The remarks came during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, recorded at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, as faith- and heritage-based attacks against minority candidates intensify ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.

What El-Sayed Said

Host Kristen Welker noted that Rogers, a former Congressman, had made 'roughly ten references' to the Muslim Brotherhood in a debate and in campaign advertisements, attempting to tie El-Sayed and his family to the organisation. El-Sayed denied any connection flatly. 'His only strategy is to point to me and my name and my faith and to say that we're different. And that you should suspect people simply because they are different than you in how they pray,' he said.

El-Sayed, a physician by training, called such tactics 'the approach of small people with small ideas, who don't really care about solving big problems.' He also invoked his personal experience, noting that he 'was a junior in high school with 9/11' and describing the attacks as 'truly shameful.' He broadened the argument beyond his own faith, saying: 'I know what it's like to be discriminated against for how I pray. I don't want anybody to face that in the United States of America, whether they're being discriminated against because they're Jewish or Sikh or Hindu or Muslim or Christian.'

A Pattern Across Minority Candidates

El-Sayed's experience is not isolated. Ahead of the 3 November midterms, several Indian-American candidates have faced comparable heritage and faith-based attacks. In Ohio, Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — the son of immigrants from Kerala — was targeted by far-right commentator Nick Fuentes, who reportedly called him an 'anchor baby who got your birthright citizenship from your H-1B parents,' according to the Texas Tribune. Ramaswamy responded at Turning Point's AmericaFest in December 2025, saying: 'If you believe in normalizing hatred towards any ethnic group — toward Whites, toward Blacks, towards Hispanics, towards Jews, towards Indians, you have no place in the future of the conservative movement,' as quoted by The Washington Post.

In Texas, Democrat Pooja Sethi — who would become the first Indian American and first Hindu elected to the state Legislature — responded on X to a Turning Point commentator: 'My heritage isn't an insult. It's my story.' A third Texas candidate, India-born Sandeep Srivastava, challenging Republican Matt Shaheen in House District 66, reportedly faced online attacks over his accent, according to American Bazaar.

Stakes in Michigan and Beyond

The El-Sayed–Rogers contest is considered a tight race that could help determine which party controls the US Senate. El-Sayed also recalled telling former President Bill Clinton in 2007 that 'people like me with names like mine can't' run for office — a recollection that underscores how much, and how little, has changed in two decades.

Across the country, ten Indian Americans are on the 3 November ballot for the US House, four of them incumbents, while three others — including Ramaswamy — are contesting governor or statewide races. The cluster of heritage-based attacks this cycle suggests the trend is systemic rather than incidental.

Historical Context

The use of religious or ethnic identity as a political weapon against minority candidates has precedent in American electoral history, but the scale and coordination of such attacks in the 2026 midterm cycle — amplified by social media — has drawn renewed scrutiny from civil liberties organisations and political analysts alike. This is not the first election in which Muslim or South Asian candidates have had to contend with identity-based smears, but the breadth of targets this time, spanning multiple states and both parties, marks a notable escalation.

How voters in Michigan, Ohio, and Texas respond to these tactics on 3 November will serve as a significant barometer of where American political culture stands on the question of minority representation.