Abdul El-Sayed took a dig at President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance late Tuesday night after defeating Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race.
While on the midterm election campaign trail, the United States leader repeatedly threw jabs at El-Sayed, who has become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.
The Senator-elect replied to the President during his victory speech: “I know you struggled with my name. So after JD swears me in in January, you can just call me Senator.”
Addressing Vice President JD Vance, El-Sayed stated, “JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in in January.”
Turning to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, he said the lobbying group “spent $42 million against us,” adding “Thank you for the opportunity to beat you twice.”
El-Sayed accused critics of claiming hatred simply for advocating that Palestinian kids should grow up in the land of their forefathers “without being murdered by our tax dollars.
“We want our taxes spent here, for schools here, healthcare here, and infrastructure here,” he emphasised. “We don’t want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war.”
According to El-Sayed, who’s also a public health administrator, believing in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination is not hate but love.
El-Sayed triumphed in the keenly contested race, despite the last-minute support for Rogers by Rep. Haley Stevens, whom he beat in the Democratic primary.
42-year-old El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, campaigned on universal healthcare, economic populism, and civil rights, while fiercely criticising the US war in Iran.
The Senator-elect has also called for the ending of all US military aid to Israel, arguing that taxpayer funds should go to domestic needs such as education and healthcare.