Abdul El-Sayed compares Muslim Brotherhood questions to JFK’s Catholic faith controversy
WASHINGTON, DC: Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Saturday, October 18, invoked former President John F Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign as he pushed back against questions about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
During an interview with MS NOW’s Ali Velshi, El-Sayed argued that the questions were intended to cast doubt on his loyalty to the United States because of his Muslim faith.
The controversy arose after reports surfaced alleging that his mother had been involved with the organization decades ago, a claim El-Sayed has repeatedly disputed.
Abdul El-Sayed compares Muslim Brotherhood scrutiny to JFK
During the interview, El-Sayed said Kennedy had also faced questions about whether his allegiance as president would be to the US Constitution or the Catholic Church and the Vatican.
The Michigan Democrat drew a parallel between that scrutiny and the questions he has faced during his Senate campaign.
“I also know that I tread a long history of this: when John F Kennedy ran for president, he was asked about whether or not his allegiance would be to the Constitution or to the pope and the Vatican…” El-Sayed said.
“The Constitution guarantees me the right as I choose to pray or any of us, to pray as we choose to pray or not to pray at all."
El-Sayed: When JFK ran for president, he was asked about whether or not his allegiance would be to the constitution or to the pope, because he would have been the first Catholic president. He had to remind people that he wasn't running to be the first Catholic president. He was running to be the next President of the United States. I'm not running to be the first anything. I'm running to be the next senator from my state.
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 17, 2026
“Nobody understands how important that document is like somebody who has their rights constantly threatened and so I will stand for that constitution, as somebody who's avidly running to protect the right to choose, who's running to protect LGBTQ rights, who's running to protect religious freedom,” he added.
Velshi asked El-Sayed how he responded to questions about the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islamism.
The candidate argued that the questions were intended to suggest that his religious identity could conflict with his responsibilities as an elected official.
“Look, at the end of the day, the whole reason this question is being asked is to insinuate that somehow I have dual loyalties,” he said.
The comparison drew criticism from Michigan Republicans. Ted Goodman, communications director for the Michigan GOP, said the situations were not equivalent.
“Abdul El-Sayed’s comparison of scrutiny over his Muslim Brotherhood ties to the questions JFK faced about the Vatican is a false equivalence,” Goodman told Fox News Digital. “The Catholic Church and the Muslim Brotherhood are not analogous.”
Abdul El-Sayed’s family ties to Muslim Brotherhood questioned
The controversy intensified after the Washington Free Beacon reported on social media posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, concerning their family’s history with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a 2012 post, Abdelhadi wrote that “had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college.”
In another post, she wrote that “my family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.”
El-Sayed has denied personal connections to the organization and questioned the significance of the posts.
His campaign has accused Republican opponents of using the controversy to target his religion, saying that “Independent fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul's faith and family."
