Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing fresh questions after flatly denying any family connection to the Muslim Brotherhood during a national television interview, only for years-old social media posts from his half-sister to surface suggesting otherwise.
On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” NBC anchor Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed directly whether he could “set the record straight” on claims that his family had ties to the Islamist organization. When Welker pressed further, asking, “No, you don’t have any ties, and your family doesn’t?” El-Sayed answered, “No,” and went on to accuse his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, of pushing Islamophobic attacks against him and his family.
But according to his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, a professor at the University of Chicago, their mother was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In a 2012 post on X, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Abdelhadi wrote: “Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect.”
Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, attended Egypt’s Alexandria University, which a Brookings Institution report says had significant Muslim Brotherhood activity during that period.
In a separate 2012 post, Abdelhadi went further, writing: “My family has long been MB, but I’ve always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.” A third post, from 2013, read: “Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.”
The El-Sayed campaign pushed back hard on the renewed scrutiny. A spokesperson told Fox News in a statement: “Abdul is a dad and a doctor. He has spent his entire career working to keep Michiganders healthy and safe.”
“Independent fact checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family. Mike wants to distract from Trump’s agenda that is terrorizing Michigan families at the pump and at the grocery store.”
The campaign has also characterized the Muslim Brotherhood allegations more broadly as “debunked as racist and untrue.” NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interview.
The exchange adds a new wrinkle to one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, as Michigan voters weigh competing claims about El-Sayed’s background ahead of his contest against Rogers.
