Resurfaced online posts and a podcast reveal that Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee, criticized Fourth of July fireworks and the right to bear arms, plus linked football to the slave trade.
CNN reported on Tuesday that Mr. El-Sayed called on Americans to celebrate Independence Day without fireworks in a now-removed July 2024 YouTube video that included a chapter titled “Fireworks just aren’t worth it.”
Mr. El-Sayed pointed to the environmental effects of pyrotechnics, saying they disturb veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a video from September 2022 that has also been removed, Mr. El-Sayed said Republicans “love to flog” the issue of the southern border, adding it “doesn’t even make the top five among issues that people in the United States actually care about that affect their lives.”
Mr. El-Sayed, 41, won the Democratic primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate candidate, by 1 percentage point. He calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, cutting off all military aid to Israel, and nationalizing the healthcare system.
In November, he will face Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who narrowly lost in the 2024 Senate race.
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Mr. Rogers’ campaign has already characterized Mr. El-Sayed as “anti-American” and extreme.
Retaining Michigan’s Senate seat is crucial for Democrats’ efforts to gain control of the Senate, as they must net four additional seats in November to do so.
The Cook Political Report, a political forecaster, rates the race a toss-up.
In a now-removed April 2023 video, after a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, Mr. El-Sayed said of the Second Amendment, “What if we tweaked the Constitution, amended the amendment, and instead of the right to bear arms, we change it to the right to have health care?”
Some of Mr. El-Sayed’s online commentary remains accessible.
In a February 2023 podcast shortly before the Super Bowl, he said, “Football is very much associated with a particularly masculine and oftentimes toxically masculine culture.”
Mr. El-Sayed posed the question, “Is there a version of football that’s actually ethical, safe?”
Later in the podcast, he said episodes of violence in America’s history, such as “destroying Native Americans” and the “trans-Atlantic slave trade,” are “echoed in the ethos of football.”
In response to CNN’s reporting, Mr. El-Sayed’s campaign stated, “Abdul is the former captain of his high school football team, loves Michigan football on Saturdays, and celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks like the next Michigander. Cherry-picked comments from his old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today.”
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