Full Breakdown
JD Vance Attacks Abdul El-Sayed’s Past Sharia Remarks at Ohio Rally
8/24/2026, 12:33:51 AM
Core Event
Vice President JD Vance delivered a campaign speech at the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, using the platform to criticize Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. The remarks were made during a rally aimed at energizing Republican voters ahead of the November midterm elections and the special Senate race to fill Vance’s former seat.
Background & Context
The Michigan contest pits El-Sayed, the son of Muslim Egyptian immigrants, against Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. El-Sayed won the Democratic primary earlier in the month and holds a narrow lead among likely voters in an AARP poll. In 2022 he delivered a keynote address at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) annual banquet in Oklahoma, referencing the 2010 State Question 755, a ballot measure that sought to bar state courts from considering Sharia law and was approved by 70 % of voters before being struck down by a federal judge in 2013. In that speech El-Sayed linked the forces behind the ban to historic patterns of white-supremacist oppression, not to criticism of Sharia law itself.
Data & Statistics
- State Question 755: 70 % voter approval in 2010.
- AARP poll (post-primary): El-Sayed holds a “slim lead” over Rogers among likely voters.
Official Statements & Responses
El-Sayed responded on MS NOW, rejecting Vance’s characterization. He emphasized that his 2022 remarks addressed the motivations behind the Sharia-law ban, not that criticism of Sharia law itself is white supremacist. He also reiterated his stance on antisemitism, stating, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids.”
Criticism & Opposition
El-Sayed accused Vance of “distorting” his comments and suggested the vice president was attempting to distract from economic concerns facing voters. He questioned why Vance implied that some Americans are “more American than others” based on ancestry, pointing to Vance’s reference to his own family’s immigrant background.
Verbatim Quotes
- “He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy,” — JD Vance
- “The same exact forces that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today,” — Abdul El-Sayed
- “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy – or it’s all going to happen overnight – but in just 18 months, we have seen an explosion of rebuilding in the American heartland,” — JD Vance
