Vice President JD Vance pushed back against Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after the progressive contender launched a series of personal attacks against him, dismissing El-Sayed as “crazy” and arguing he would be a poor choice to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate.
The exchange marked the latest war of words in one of the nation’s closely watched Senate races, where El-Sayed recently emerged from a contentious Democratic primary that highlighted broader debates over the future direction of the Democratic Party.
El-Sayed took aim at Vance on Wednesday, referring to the vice president as “Peter Thiel’s boy,” a reference to the technology entrepreneur for whom Vance previously worked. El-Sayed suggested the country had seen enough of the vice president.
“The last thing that he said that made any sense was ‘Hillbilly Elegy,'” El-Sayed said, referencing Vance’s bestselling memoir.
El-Sayed continued by criticizing Vance’s political evolution, saying the vice president stopped making sense after previously arguing that Donald Trump “had no business being president of anything.”
According to El-Sayed, Vance later chose to “suck up to power.”
The Democratic Senate candidate also broadened his criticism beyond Vance, accusing Republicans of placing power and money ahead of public service.
“But that’s exactly what this is about. You’ve got Republicans who will do anything for power and money, including corrupt their office,” El-Sayed said.
Vance responded to the remarks later in the week during an interview that aired Saturday on Fox News’s “Saturday in America.”
Rather than returning the personal insults in kind, Vance argued that El-Sayed had failed to focus on issues affecting Michigan residents and instead chose to attack him personally.
“He would be a terrible senator for the people of Michigan,” Vance said.
The vice president also described El-Sayed as an unusual political figure while noting that criticism comes with serving in national office.
“He’s just kind of an odd guy, but I think that it’s telling that instead of talking about what he wants to do to make the lives of Michiganders better, he takes personal insults at me,” Vance said.
“I’m the vice president, it comes with the territory.”
Vance then delivered his sharpest criticism of the Democratic nominee.
“I think the guy’s crazy and would be a terrible senator for the people of Michigan,” he said.
Vance added that he believes Michigan voters will ultimately decide the outcome at the ballot box.
“We’re going to make that case, and obviously the people in Michigan are going to make their vote,” he said.
The exchange comes just days after El-Sayed secured a narrow victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.
The closely contested primary was widely viewed as one of the most significant battlegrounds this election season over the ideological direction of the Democratic Party, with El-Sayed’s victory marking a win for the party’s progressive wing.
