Vance Sharpens Attacks on Michigan Senate Hopeful El-Sayed, Invoking Paris Unrest

Vice-President JD Vance has stepped up his attacks on Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan, claiming at a campaign event that El-Sayed would lead rioters in "burning down" Detroit. El-Sayed has faced a wave of Islamophobic rhetoric during the race.

If he wins in next week's election, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim senator in the country's history. President Donald Trump has already labeled him a "jihadist."

Vance had previously described El-Sayed as a representative of "terrible evil" who fights for "one group at the expense of others." El-Sayed replied that the truly evil act was depriving people of healthcare and affordable groceries.

On Tuesday, speaking to a crowd in Howell, Michigan, Vance tied El-Sayed's politics to the leftwing protests in Paris, which have led to thousands of arrests. He described "hordes of masked rioters, many from distant lands, taking over historic city centers," and highlighted El-Sayed's relationship with leftwing political commentator Hasan Piker.

"The scene of destruction in Paris may be an ocean away, but ask yourselves: are they really so hard to imagine here in the United States of America?" Vance said. He added that if rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, "the Hasan Pikers and El-Sayeds would be right there leading them and cheering them on." He also said the "same cancer" seen in France had "corrupted Abdul El-Sayed."

The demonstrations in France began as student protests over crumbling schools and the soaring cost of living. Trump and his allies have sought to recast them as evidence of the dangers of immigration and the erosion of western civilization.

Vance has visited Michigan several times as Republican candidate Mike Rogers competes for the seat El-Sayed is seeking. On a trip to the state on Sunday, Trump accused El-Sayed of being "on the side of the terrorists" and said Michigan needed to "stand up and fight" against him. Trump has also repeatedly used El-Sayed's middle name, Mohamed.

At a rally of his own this weekend, El-Sayed said opponents think "by pointing at my name and my faith" voters will overlook the fact that they "can't afford your gas or your groceries, can't see a doctor."

Researchers have suggested that this midterm campaign has produced the most concentrated wave of Islamophobic rhetoric in US electoral politics since the aftermath of 9/11.

Chris Murphy, the Democratic US senator for Connecticut, wrote on X on Tuesday that everyone should pay attention to what he called a coordinated campaign to delegitimize Muslim Americans, "not just as citizens but as humans." Responding to recent remarks by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who suggested "five hundred million Arabs in the world" do not contribute to science or literature, Murphy said the "increasingly hysterical attacks are a prelude to Republicans bringing us to a very, very dark place after the election."