JD Vance slams Abdul El-Sayed over Sharia remarks: ‘That’s not my grandpa’s Democratic Party’

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Vice President JD Vance has taken aim at Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed over his past remarks about Sharia law, using them to argue that the Democratic Party has moved far away from its working-class roots.

Speaking at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works steel plant in his Ohio hometown on Friday, August 21, Vance brought up El-Sayed as he described what he sees as a major change in the Democratic Party.

El-Sayed is running against former Republican Rep Mike Rogers in a Michigan Senate race that could play a role in determining control of the Senate.

JD Vance says the current Democratic Party is a 'party of graduate students', aims at Abdul El-Sayed

Vance spoke about his late grandfather, who worked as a welder for 40 years and voted Democrat because he believed it was “the party of union men.” The vice presdient argued that the party no longer represents the same voters.

“This is the party, the Democrat party of graduate students, rather than the union and nonunion workers who make this facility run,” Vance said.

He then turned his attention to El-Sayed, the son of Muslim Egyptian immigrants, and his comments about criticism of Sharia law.

“He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in white supremacy,” Vance said.

Vance then delivered his sharpest criticism of the Michigan candidate: “I'd love to go back in time and tell my papa that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it you're a white supremacist. That's not my grandpa's Democratic Party, my friend.”

What Abdul El-Sayed said about Sharia law ban

Vance was referring to remarks El-Sayed made at the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ 2022 annual banquet in Oklahoma, where he was the keynote speaker.

El-Sayed had criticised a 2010 Oklahoma ballot measure known as State Question 755.

The measure sought to prevent courts from considering Sharia law in their decisions. It was approved by 70% of voters but was later blocked by federal courts.

“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,” El-Sayed said at the event.

He also connected the debate over Sharia to historical events involving Native Americans and Black Americans.

“The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Sharia ban without understanding the Trail of Tears,” El-Sayed said. “You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding white supremacy.”

Abdul El-Sayed faces criticism over comments on Israel and Jewish safety stance

El-Sayed has also faced criticism over his comments about Israel. He has accused Israel of committing “genocide” and described the country as an “apartheid,” remarks that have raised concerns among members of the Jewish community.

Following his primary victory, however, El-Sayed addressed concerns about his position on Jewish safety. 

“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it,” he said.

But as per Vance, El-Sayed’s remarks became part of a much bigger argument about where the Democratic Party stands today.

“It’s sometimes actually hard to understand what these modern Democrats actually stand for,” Vance said. “But look what they say. Pay close attention, and they'll leave these little hints of what they actually care about.”