- Campaign video from Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed claims he was first Muslim American leader to endorse Kamala Harris
- A social media post from Democratic rival Haley Stevens suggests El-Sayed led a movement to withhold primary votes from Joe Biden
- Both claims are false
As Haley Stevens questions Abdul El-Sayed’s commitment to the Democratic Party and his role in the “uncommitted” movement in 2024, El-Sayed is touting his support that year for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“He was the first Muslim American leader to endorse Kamala Harris for president,” Wayne County Commissioner and “proud Democrat” Martha G. Scott says as she endorses El-Sayed in a new 30-second campaign video.
But is that true?
It’s among the claims Bridge Michigan is reviewing in the state’s fiercely competitive US Senate race, as the centrist and progressive Democrats battle for the chance to take on Republican Mike Rogers this fall.
Here are the facts:
Not the first, but El-Sayed did endorse
In El-Sayed’s recent campaign video, Scott called him the first Muslim American leader to endorse Harris, but text displayed onscreen while she’s speaking offered a notable correction of the record: “ONE OF THE FIRST.”
The ad then displays a July 22, 2024, social media post in which El-Sayed endorsed Harris — one-day after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a poor debate performance and urged Democrats to pick Harris as the new nominee.
El-Sayed was not “the first Muslim American leader” to endorse her, but he — and many others — were among the dozens of prominent Democrats who rushed to show support for Biden’s chosen replacement within hours of his exit from the race.
Nobody came forward to challenge Harris, making endorsing her a low-risk proposition.
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, another prominent Muslim Democrat, endorsed Harris 15 hours before El-Sayed.
El-Sayed’s endorsement came around 6 a.m. the next day: “Considering the dangers of the Republican nominee, & potential of her leadership, it’s time for all of us to unite behind @KamalaHarris to defeat Trump,” he wrote on social media, referencing Harris’ eventual general election matchup with Republican Donald Trump.
Stevens, too, was quick to endorse Harris, making it official in a social media post just before 3 p.m. on July 21.
El-Sayed part of ‘uncommitted,’ but didn’t lead it
Following state Sen. Mallory McMorrow’s recent exit from the race, Stevens has sought to play up her Democratic Party bona fides while calling El-Sayed’s into question.
“Not Abdul leading the uncommitted movement,” she wrote in a recent social media post that also pointed to a headline suggesting El-Sayed had called Harris’ campaign “nauseating.”
The “uncommitted” jab is a reference to a national movement that originated in Michigan, in which participants vowed to vote uncommitted in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary to protest the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
El-Sayed was among more than more than 100,000 Michiganders who joined the movement, but he did not lead it. And while he had not endorsed Biden before the president dropped out, he made clear at the time that this protest vote applied specifically to the primary.
“Make no mistake, I will do everything in my power to stop Trump,” he said in a February social media post. “And this is part of that.”
The uncommitted movement originated as a campaign called “Listen to Michigan,” spearheaded by Arab American activists like Abbas Alawieh, Layla Elabed and Lexis Zeidan. Eventually, it morphed into a national movement that urged Democrats to withhold primary votes for Biden in hopes of convincing the administration to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
In Michigan, the movement cost Biden two delegates, though he still clinched the Democratic Party nomination handily with 115 delegates before dropping out.
As for the claim that El-Sayed called Harris’s campaign “nauseating,” those comments don’t directly mention Harris but appeared to reference the joyful tone she and fellow Democrats took on the campaign trail as the war in Gaza continued.
“Watching elders who look like your parents, children who look like your kids, be pulled in parts out of rubble for a year, and then watching the split screen of this manufactured campaign of joy on behalf of Democrats was nauseating,” El-Sayed said in a November 2024 physicians conference.
The bottom line
While it’s true that El-Sayed publicly backed Harris a day after Biden dropped out, he wasn’t the first Muslim American to do so. His endorsement came after numerous Democrats rushed to back Harris as soon as Biden announced her as his chosen successor.
Stevens’ suggestion that El-Sayed led the uncommitted movement is also untrue. While he didn’t directly call Harris’ campaign “nauseating,” El-Sayed said it made him queasy to see its joyful tone amid an ongoing war.
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