Politics
Democrat Senate Candidate Under Fire Over ‘Violent’ Threat Against GOP Opponent: ‘Aren’t You Like 5’6?’
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is drawing fresh attention after challenging Republican rival Mike Rogers to a game of tackle football with “no pads” as their general election fight heats up.
The unusual challenge came after Rogers appeared on Fox News and ripped El-Sayed over resurfaced videos showing the Democrat criticizing fireworks, questioning football safety and downplaying other issues important to conservative voters.
Speaking with Sean Hannity, Rogers argued the old clips gave voters a better look at El-Sayed’s views.
“This guy spent hours hating on what most Michiganders would enjoy in their pastimes and he should be held to account for that. These are views that he held and he was pretty strong about but he knew that he had to delete them all, for if people really knew who he was they wouldn’t vote for him.”
El-Sayed fired back on X the following day, accusing Rogers of being “too afraid to debate” him and suggesting the two settle things on the football field instead.
“I’d be happy to show you [how] much I love football,” the Democrat quipped.
The exchange followed El-Sayed’s earlier challenge for Rogers to participate in five debates, a proposal the Republican had not accepted at the time.
Rogers: He’s advocating doing away with our fireworks, football, the fourth of July. He should be held to account for that. pic.twitter.com/XXNF4jBQzy
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 12, 2026
The no-pads football challenge quickly became political fodder online, with critics mocking the Democrat’s attempt to prove his toughness and questioning whether daring his Republican opponent to a full-contact matchup was the best way to demonstrate it.
The whole spectacle comes with an ironic twist.
El-Sayed previously argued that “toxic masculinity” sits at the heart of American football, comments that resurfaced separately as Republicans dig through the progressive candidate’s extensive archive of old writings and videos.
In a 2021 Substack post responding to the resignation of then-Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden, El-Sayed wrote, “The toxic masculinity at the heart of America’s most popular sport — and men’s sports culture more generally — is way deeper than a few emails or a Jay-Z turnaround.”
El-Sayed, who played football himself and served as a captain and two-year starter at Andover High School in Michigan, also described an ugly culture surrounding the sport.
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“On the football field, I felt free,” El-Sayed wrote. “And yet on the sidelines and in the locker room, I was fed a hefty dose of the worst kinds of racist taunting.”
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He went even further in describing what he said was commonplace inside football culture.
“Racism, misogyny, and homophobia were lingua franca,” he wrote.
That makes his latest invitation to play Rogers in tackle football without pads an unusual evolution from his previous warnings about masculinity and safety in the sport.
The latest controversy also traces back to a CNN KFile report that highlighted several old videos posted by El-Sayed, some of which have since been deleted.
In one clip that reportedly remains online, El-Sayed questioned whether football could be considered “safe” and “ethical.”
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Another video from July 2024 showed him declaring that “fireworks suck” while urging Americans to find another way to celebrate Independence Day, citing concerns about pollution, pets and people suffering from PTSD.
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Other resurfaced clips showed El-Sayed minimizing concerns over the southern border and discussing the idea of replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a right to health care.
The growing pile of old comments has given Republicans fresh ammunition as they try to portray El-Sayed as far outside Michigan’s political mainstream.
His campaign dismissed the reporting as misleading.
A spokeswoman for El-Sayed trashed the coverage as “cherry-picked” and defended his record as a former football player.
“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 old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today.”
El-Sayed’s football background has become a central piece of his campaign’s defense as Republicans continue highlighting his past criticism of the sport.
But the latest exchange has added even more personality to a Senate race already shaping up as one of the sharper ideological contests of the cycle.
Rogers is running as the Trump-backed Republican, while El-Sayed has built his campaign around progressive priorities and support from the Democratic Party’s left flank.
Now the Democrat who once warned about “toxic masculinity” in football is challenging his Republican opponent to tackle him without pads, giving Michigan voters an unusual preview of just how rough this general election could get.
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