Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed clashed with Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday after the right-wing media personality questioned his views of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Be a journalist. So as a journalist, if you’re asking the question about my allegiance to the Constitution, I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood,” El-Sayed told Baier in Friday’s airing of “Special Report.”
“I am interested in serving the United States. I’m interested in swearing an oath to the Constitution that every senator has sworn an oath to,” he continued.
During the course of his campaign, conservative voices, including President Donald Trump, have attempted to exploit El-Sayed’s Muslim background to paint him as a less American candidate than his opponent Mike Rogers.
Most recently, El-Sayed’s right-wing foes are attempting to connect him to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement with offshoots that range from non-violent political factions to extremist groups like Hamas.
The progressive candidate previously shut down the accusation when heckled at a rally in Caro, Michigan, last week, telling the heckler, “I’m running for the U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.”
“The reality is this: I’m never going to tell you what faith you can or cannot practice. I want to protect your right to practice your faith as you choose as a Christian man,” El-Sayed said at the time. “The only question, though, is that it seems like you don’t want to protect my right to practice as I choose.”
Baier questioned El-Sayed again this week in Detroit, and El-Sayed tried to shut it down before it got worse.
“No, no, no. Let me just stop there. You are asking this question, to raise a question about–” El-Sayed said.
“I’m not,” Baier countered.
“–about whether or not I have dual loyalty,” El-Sayed continued.
The Michigan progressive stood firm in his answer, telling Baier, “My loyalty will be to the Constitution of the United States.”
The two engaged in crosstalk as Baier defended his question, saying it was about “Rogers’ campaign,” but El-Sayed told the Fox News host, “Don’t be Rogers’ campaign.”
“If the question about my faith is the issue, which Mike Rogers wants it to be, I think it is sad and beneath him, and frankly, beneath the president of the United States, to make that an issue, because under our Constitution, you’re guaranteed the right to pray as you choose to pray,” El-Sayed said.