Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was caught on a leaked donor Zoom call openly discussing putting a fellow Democrat’s head on a pike to terrorize the rest of the party into submission.
El-Sayed, the far-left progressive challenging Rep. Haley Stevens in the August 4 Michigan Democrat primary, told donors exactly how he plans to remake the party if he wins: by making an example of anyone who dares stray from the progressive orthodoxy.
“Ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” El-Sayed declared, according to audio obtained by Politico.
LISTEN:
When the comments exploded and even some Democrats called them “violent” and “vulgar,” El-Sayed doubled down.
After being exposed, El-Sayed’s campaign later insisted he was speaking metaphorically about defeating Fetterman in a Democrat primary, not advocating physical violence.
But during Monday night’s final Democratic Senate primary debate, El-Sayed refused to apologize for the inflammatory remark.
Moderator Roop Raj pressed El-Sayed over the statement, noting that many people had taken offense and asking whether he regretted his comments.
El-Sayed responded by revealing that the “ogre” he wanted metaphorically placed “on a pike” was Fetterman.
“I was referring to a guy named John Fetterman,” El-Sayed insisted. He claimed the Pennsylvania Democrat was elected as a liberal candidate before “completely throwing those values in the mud.”
WATCH:
Abdul El-Sayed doubles down on calling John Fetterman an “ogre.”
MODERATOR: “Just earlier this week, we heard that there was some kind of a zoom call in which you referenced an opponent as ‘ogre on a pike…’”
EL-SAYED: “I was referring to a guy named John Fetterman.” pic.twitter.com/NCK0pZmrVv
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 27, 2026
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has become public enemy number one among the progressive left for refusing to abandon Israel, for criticizing the pro-Hamas wing of his own party, and for occasionally sounding like a normal American instead of a campus radical. Fetterman has repeatedly clashed with El-Sayed and the DSA-aligned crowd over their hostility toward the Jewish state.
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