Nancy Mace

Some Republicans are insisting that Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed represents a direct threat to American ideals due to his Muslim faith.

Republican South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace targeted all Muslim public servants in a post Friday, alleging they pose a hidden risk to the constituents they serve.

"Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic," Mace wrote on X. "We refuse to be silent."

Read More on Politics

Mace, who has served in the House since 2021, later targeted El-Sayed, a Democrat vying to become the first Muslim U.S. senator, during an interview Sunday on CNN while discussing his potential election and immediate ramifications.

"In the future, when our granddaughters are wearing burqas to school, we're going to look back and say, how did this happen?" Mace asked.

Newsweek reached out to El-Sayed's campaign for comment on Monday.

President Donald Trump on Saturday then posted a photograph on Truth Social of El-Sayed, alongside his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, juxtaposed with an image of himself and first lady Melania Trump.

"Two VERY DIFFERENT America's," the image said.

El-Sayed hit back at the post in an interview with CNN on Sunday, telling host Jake Tapper: “Yeah, he’s right. One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other but joint in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you, or two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together, want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family, and know that that family is going to have the good things.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned Trump's "Islamophobic" post, insisting that America "does not belong to any one race or religion."

"An American man of Egyptian descent is just as American as an American man of German descent, and an American woman wearing a hijab is just as American as an American woman without one," CAIR director Nihad Awad said in a statement. "President Trump’s racist and bigoted social media post was not just an attack on American Muslims, but on the idea of America itself."

CAIR officials also called on Trump to remove the post, which featured El-Sayed's full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

"We also urge all members of Congress to reject ongoing efforts to fuel anti-Muslim hatred and division," Awad said.

El-Sayed, 41, has been explicit in downplaying his Muslim faith as it would relate to his governance. He mused on the possibility of becoming the second-ever Muslim Senate candidate to be nominated by a major party last year, saying he's solely focused on Michigan residents.

"I'm not running to be the first anything," he previously told Newsweek. "I'm running to the best senator for the state of Michigan and to deliver for working people."

El-Sayed, a former public health official now facing Republican Mike Rogers in November, previously discussed how his faith influences his political interests during a 2017 interview.

"I am somebody who believes in faith," he told Detroit Public Radio. "And I believe in one God. And I believe that that God commands me to create a more just, more equitable world. And that’s about serving everybody."

El-Sayed also characterized himself as "brown" and "Muslim" during the same interview.

"I’m never going to escape those facts, because they’re who I am, and I wouldn't want to," he said.

In 2018, when El-Sayed unsuccessfully ran for governor of Michigan, the progressive candidate described himself as being part of a political movement.

"Our country is founded on the idea that we should have a government for the people and by the people," he told Vogue at the time. "And I think folks are frustrated by how far away we’ve gotten from that. Our movement is about bringing our government back to that. But it means that we the people have to stand up and take it back. And so you're seeing that happen all over the country."

El-Sayed said Sunday he had spoken to former President Barack Obama as Democrats try to unite the party following the primary. Friday's chat was "really warm and inspiring," El-Sayed said, but he did not provide details.

Rogers, El-Sayed's opponent, is a former congressman who narrowly lost a Senate race in 2024. He has sought to capitalize on lingering tension between progressive and moderate Democrat voters.

"You have a home with us," Rogers said in a recent video message seeking to attract Democrats who think the party may have moved too far left in backing El-Sayed.

But Democrats in Michigan are starting to unite on a shared vision, El-Sayed said Sunday on CNN.

"You're seeing folks come together," he said. "We might see the world differently, but we also recognize the responsibility to come together."