Sanders-backed Dem blistered for making 'excuses for terrorists,' slamming 'high and mighty' Americans

By Fox News · Fox News

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, has "no business" running for public office after seeing a video of him discussing the importance of having empathy for terrorists. El-Sayed, a medical doctor and former Wayne County health director, is running in the Democratic primary for Michigan's open Senate seat in the 2026 midterms. He suggested during a town hall last summer that 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." "It’s a scary world we live in where Democrats now make excuses for terrorists. And even more terrifying, it’s this level of radicalism that is propelling Abdul to the front of the primary," Rogers said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "These heinous comments are no surprise after he fundraised off of October 7, refused to disavow Hasan Piker saying that 'America deserved 9/11,' and called it a 'risk' to condemn a terror attack that nearly mass murdered 140 kids in our own backyard. It’s indefensible." FAR-LEFT SENATE HOPEFUL'S RADICAL TIES TO 'MARURO CRONIES' COULD TORPEDO CAMPAIGN: 'TIRED OF THE CHAOS' 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 leaders must also try to "understand" where terrorists are coming from. "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 pol…