Battleground Dem says terrorists act from 'pain and frustration,' accuses Americans of being 'high and mighty'

By Fox News · Fox News

A Democratic Senate candidate running in the battleground state of Michigan said the United States should try to understand why terrorists commit such "heinous acts," suggesting those actions stem from a place of "pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency." Abdul El-Sayed, a medical doctor and former Wayne County health director, is vying for Michigan's open Senate seat in the 2026 midterms. He is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All and free education, and has been critical of Israel. In July 2025, El-Sayed held a town hall in South Haven, Michigan, where a constituent asked how he would address terrorism if elected to the Senate. The exchange was captured on video and first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon . El-Sayed said that while the United States' current approach to terror, which leverages U.S. military might against terrorist organizations, is "necessary," he suggested that leaders must also try to "understand" where terrorists are coming from. FAR-LEFT SENATE HOPEFUL'S RADICAL TIES TO 'MARURO CRONIES' COULD TORPEDO CAMPAIGN: 'TIRED OF THE CHAOS' "I also think we need to be curious about why those things happen in the first place, like, [what] drives somebody to want to commit such a heinous act," El-Sayed said. "I have to be a student of people's pain. Like, that's, that's what I did in medicine. That's what I try to do in politics, like, what, what happens when people are in pain?" El-Sayed said that terrorism is political violence committed in "pursuit of a political end." "There is a level of pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency that they have to feel to do something so insane and absurd, right?" El-Sayed said. DEMOCRATS TEAM UP WITH FAR-LEFT STREAMER WHO ONCE SAID ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ He then said that the "heinous acts" of terrorists lead him to reflect on how "we're behaving that may get somebody to think that we don't see them." "And I think too often, the way we've engaged in the world has been that w…