Vice President JD Vance used a Michigan campaign swing on Tuesday to unload on Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, calling him a “psychopath” and accusing him of promoting racial hatred, according to CBS News, one week before the state picks a new senator.
Vance made the remarks to reporters before heading to a rally for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Howell, CBS News reported in a post on X. Vance said El-Sayed “may be more than any Democrat running in the nation” has “engaged in the kind of explicitly anti-white racial hatred,” according to Newsweek, which reported the comments came on the tarmac ahead of the rally.
NEW: Vice President JD Vance launches a blistering attack against Abdul El-Sayed, accusing him of embracing the same "hatred" and "desire to destroy" that Vance says he witnessed in France.
Vance describes that mindset as a "cancer" that has corrupted El-Sayed.
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— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 27, 2026
Vance drew a sharp contrast between the two candidates. He described Rogers as “fundamentally a decent guy” and the kind of public servant voters should want in Washington, Newsweek reported. He also said Republicans stand for everybody, “whether you’re black or white,” according to the same report.
“A Lot of Weird Friends”
Reporters asked Vance whether he agreed with a characterization of El-Sayed that President Donald Trump reportedly made on Monday. According to CBS News, Vance stopped short of repeating the president’s label, saying he didn’t know what was in the candidate’s heart, but said El-Sayed had “a lot of weird friends.” Newsweek reported that Vance also said El-Sayed had aligned himself with people who justify violence against the United States.
Fox News reported that Vance later went further, accusing El-Sayed of embracing the same “hatred” and “desire to destroy” that Vance said he witnessed in France, and describing that mindset as a “cancer” that has corrupted the Democrat. In remarks carried by C-SPAN, Vance tied El-Sayed to online streamer Hasan Piker while discussing protests in Paris. “I guarantee, if those rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, the Hasan Pikers and the El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on,” Vance said, according to C-SPAN.
A Race That Could Decide the Senate
The Michigan contest is one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country and could help decide which party controls the chamber, according to Newsweek. El-Sayed, a former Michigan public health official, has rejected accusations that he has extremist affiliations, Newsweek reported.
Recent polling shows a competitive race. A WDIV-TV and Detroit News poll released Tuesday found El-Sayed leading Rogers 51.4 percent to 45.1 percent among likely voters, according to Newsweek, while an InsiderAdvantage poll conducted October 21-22 showed El-Sayed ahead by a single point, 47 percent to 46 percent, the outlet reported. A Marist poll taken October 15-18 had El-Sayed up 50 percent to 48 percent, according to Newsweek.
Tuesday’s stop was part of a Republican push to mobilize Michigan voters in the final stretch before Election Day on November 3, Newsweek reported. Newsweek also noted that Vance’s comments followed a string of sharper Republican attacks on El-Sayed, including Trump’s criticism of the Democrat at a Michigan rally on October 25.
For Republicans, the message from the vice president was blunt: Michigan voters have a choice between a candidate Vance calls a decent public servant and one he says is out of step with the country. El-Sayed’s campaign had not responded to Vance’s latest remarks in the reports reviewed by Daily Beltway.
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- Original post: Fox News (@FoxNews) on X, Oct 27, 2026
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