A Democratic socialist running for the US Senate is facing intense criticism after pulling Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, into an escalating political clash with the Trump administration.
Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Senate candidate, triggered the backlash on Saturday with a post that appeared to allude to the second lady’s Indian heritage while responding to an attack from Vance.
The remark swiftly drew accusations that El-Sayed had gone too far by involving a politician’s spouse, with critics calling him a “racist creep” and raising questions about how he would treat women if elected to Congress.
The bitter exchange began after Vance criticized El-Sayed at a rally in Ohio over comments the candidate had previously made about Sharia law.
During the speech, Vance referenced his late maternal grandfather, James “Papaw” Vance, arguing that El-Sayed’s views would have been entirely foreign to the world his grandfather knew.
El-Sayed then answered by bringing Usha Vance directly into the dispute.
“So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…” he wrote on X.
The post was widely interpreted as suggesting that Vance’s Indian-American wife could have encountered hostility from his white Midwestern grandfather — an implication that quickly fueled anger among conservatives and other critics.
Abdul El-Sayed, 41, is the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s US Senate seat and is running against Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in November
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance met while studying at Yale Law School and married in 2014; Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is a lawyer
Former Florida state Rep. Ben Graber was among those to immediately seize on the post.
‘El Sayed is now attacking Wives [sic] of US leaders? What a guy,’ Graber wrote on X.
Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill accused El-Sayed of smearing White Midwesterners with an assumption that Vance’s grandfather would have been racist toward Usha.
‘Why does Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed just assume that all White midwestern grandparents are racist?’ Gill asked.
Political commentator Ryan Girdusky similarly argued that Michigan voters should pay attention to the implications of the candidate’s attack.
‘If you’re a rural White American living in Michigan, just remember El-Sayed believes you’re a racist,’ Girdusky wrote.
The escalating row comes at a crucial moment for El-Sayed, who is running against Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in what has become a fiercely contested Michigan Senate race.
And critics quickly sought to portray the Usha Vance post as something more serious than an ill-judged social-media barb.
El-Sayed triggered a furious backlash after responding to JD Vance by asking: ‘So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…’
Former Florida state Rep. Ben Graber slammed El-Sayed for bringing Usha Vance into the feud, while commentator Ryan Girdusky accused El-Sayed of stereotyping white Midwesterners
An X account operated by Democrats supporting Rogers accused El-Sayed of harboring ‘contempt for women’ and pointed to previous attacks made against him during the primary campaign.
‘This is why there were ads in the primary correctly highlighting how sexist and misogynistic Abdul is,’ the account wrote.
‘He has so much contempt for women. If you’re over the politics of division. Reject Abdul El-Sayed.’
Journalist Emily Schrader was even more direct.
‘You are a racist creep,’ she told El-Sayed in response to his post.
Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was raised in California and met her future husband while the pair attended Yale Law School.
The couple married in 2014 and have since had four children, with the second lady giving birth to their youngest child last month.
She has generally maintained a substantially lower political profile than her husband despite becoming one of the most recognizable spouses in Washington following Vance’s elevation to the vice presidency.
GOP strategist Matt Whitlock blasted El-Sayed’s attacks on Usha Vance and Natalie Harp as evidence of ‘bad campaign, bad candidate, bad instincts,’ saying any normal campaign would have shut down the posts
El-Sayed’s decision to bring Usha into his clash with Vance was particularly personal because his post appeared to invoke both her Indian-American background and Vance’s deeply personal stories about his maternal family
The Democrat did not explicitly explain what he meant, but critics interpreted the remark as an insinuation that Vance’s White Midwestern grandfather would have been hostile toward Usha because of her Indian heritage
The firestorm intensified because Usha Vance was not the only woman connected to the Trump administration whom El-Sayed targeted online Saturday.
Earlier in the day, he directed another post at Natalie Harp, an aide to President Donald Trump who has herself become the subject of intense political and online scrutiny.
Trump had blasted El-Sayed during a rally over his association with socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who generated outrage with his past declaration that ‘America deserved 9/11.’
El-Sayed responded to the president’s attack by addressing Harp directly.
‘Natalie, I think he’s had a little too much iPad for the week. He needs his rest,’ El-Sayed wrote.
GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted screenshots of El-Sayed’s remarks about both women and argued they demonstrated a wider problem with his candidacy.
‘This is what I’m talking about,’ Whitlock wrote.
‘Just a bad campaign, bad candidate, bad instincts. Sitting at home on a Saturday morning tweeting bad takes that any normal campaign would shut down.’
Tudor Dixon, the former Republican candidate for Michigan governor, went further, arguing that the posts should raise questions about how El-Sayed would behave toward women working alongside him on Capitol Hill.
‘He goes after Usha. He goes after Natalie [Harp]. This coward picks on women who are not in his fight,’ Dixon said.
‘Imagine how he would treat female staffers in the halls of Congress.’
The Daily Mail has contacted the El-Sayed campaign for comment.
