Nancy Mace Called El-Sayed 'Jihad Adjacent.' Dave Smith, a Self-Described Right-Winger, Asked: 'Where's the Evidence of This?'
On Piers Morgan Uncensored's election-night panel, Rep. Nancy Mace said she has called Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed 'jihad adjacent' because of his family and a student group. Podcaster Dave Smith, who said 'I'm an immigration restrictionist and I'm an America First, you know, right winger,' answered: 'if you're making allegations that these guys are secret jihadists, like, where's the evidence of this?' The two items she cited are in the public record: his half-sister's 2012 and 2013 posts about relatives in the Muslim Brotherhood, and his seat on the board of the University of Michigan's Muslim Students' Association from 2003 to 2007. Bridge Michigan's fact check found 'no evidence that El-Sayed has ties to the organization.' El-Sayed won Michigan's Senate seat that night. Every quote below is checked against the broadcast audio.
Thursday, November 5, 2026.
Twenty-four minutes into Piers Morgan's election-night special, Nancy Mace said she has called Abdul El-Sayed "jihad adjacent," and named two reasons: his sister and a student group. Dave Smith, a fellow panelist who calls himself a right-winger, asked her where the evidence was. El-Sayed won Michigan's Senate seat that night. Here is what each of them said, and what the record shows.
Source: Piers Morgan Uncensored's live midterm election special, streamed on YouTube on Nov. 3, 2026 (4 hours, 1 minute). Mace sat on the panel with podcaster Dave Smith and commentator Omar Baddar. Times in brackets are the broadcast's own timestamps, and each links to that moment. We checked the quotes below against the broadcast audio twice.
"Jihad adjacent"
Answering another panelist's criticism of her tweets about El-Sayed, Mace said: "I am America and her citizens first. But I've seen the slow crawl of this radical Islam in our country. You have Abdul El-Sayed." Morgan asked: "How do you see it? What does that look like?" (0:23:40)
Mace answered:
"I think, I'm going to call him, I've said he was jihad adjacent because he denies any affiliation with his family with the Muslim Brotherhood, when his own sister came out and said, 'We had family members who were arrested because they were Muslim Brotherhood.' He was part of a student association that was started by people affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. So, to me, this is dangerous and I don't want it anywhere near our political system or in our government" (0:23:51).
"Where's the evidence of this?"
When she finished, Smith jumped in. He said he agreed with "a lot" of her assessment of the Michigan race and that El-Sayed "comes off as a very authentic guy." Then:
"Listen, I'm an immigration restrictionist and I'm an America First, you know, right winger. That's how I would describe myself. I, at the same time, if you're making allegations that these guys are secret jihadists, like, where's the evidence of this?" (0:25:03)
Smith said he had his own criticisms of El-Sayed ("I've seen things out of him that I don't like. I think there's a soft spot on wokeism"). Then he added: "let's keep the criticism to something he actually said and he actually believes in, rather than just making up this, this, Islamist-" before another panelist cut in (0:25:38).
What Mace pointed to
She gave two sources. Both are in the public record.
- His sister. Eman Abdelhadi, El-Sayed's half-sister and a University of Chicago assistant professor, wrote on social media on June 24, 2012, "My family has long been MB," and on July 3, 2013, "I have had family jailed for being a part of it," according to the Washington Free Beacon, which resurfaced the posts on Oct. 11. The posts say "jailed," not "arrested," and they are 13 and 14 years old. The Free Beacon's own report says it "is unclear which El-Sayed family members on his mother's side are Brotherhood members and whether El-Sayed himself has met any of them." El-Sayed, who was raised mainly by his father and stepmother, called the posts "hearsay" in an NBC News interview. "I have no ties. We have no ties," he said (CBS News).
- His student group. El-Sayed served on the board of the University of Michigan's Muslim Students' Association from 2003 to 2007 and as its "Brothers' Outreach Chair," CBS News reported on Oct. 29. The national association was founded in 1963 at the University of Illinois. Lorenzo Vidino, who directs George Washington University's Program on Extremism, told CBS that members and sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood played a crucial role in its founding in the 1960s: "While MSA was not a 'pure' Brotherhood organization, links to it were strong." The association's stated mission, CBS reported, centers on student support, religious accommodation, interfaith dialogue and leadership development.
What the reporting shows about "jihad adjacent"
- The fact check. Bridge Michigan's fact check of Republican claims about El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, updated Oct. 28, found: "There is no evidence that El-Sayed has ties to the organization or pledged support, although he has occasionally weighed in on Egyptian affairs and politicians associated with the group."
- His answer. El-Sayed said he "absolutely" disavows the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall in Caro, Michigan, Bridge Michigan reported on Oct. 19.
- What Mace did not cite. CBS and the Free Beacon also reported on his mother, Fatten Elkomy, who worked as a nurse for the Islamic American Relief Agency in Missouri. The U.S. shut that charity down in 2004 for violating sanctions. CBS noted that Elkomy "was not accused of any wrongdoing."
- The result. El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan's open Senate seat that night, NPR and NBC News reported. He will be the first Muslim U.S. senator.
What she said next
Her next words on the subject came about a minute after Smith's question, when the discussion turned to the Brotherhood's terrorist designation. "I think I had a bill, actually, to declare them. Someone had a bill. It might have been me," Mace said (0:26:09). She cited no further evidence in that exchange.
She did introduce a bill: the Muslim Brotherhood Is a Terrorist Organization Act, on June 10, 2025, which would direct the Secretary of State to designate the group a foreign terrorist organization (her office).
Sources
- Piers Morgan Uncensored, "US Midterm Elections Results LIVE," YouTube, Nov. 3, 2026: youtube.com/watch?v=oYb-35YNgCc. Maceopedia transcript of all four hours, with a second word-by-word pass on the quoted passages.
- Washington Free Beacon, "Abdul El-Sayed's Family Has 'Long Been' in Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Senate Candidate's Sister Said in Unearthed Social Media Posts," Oct. 11, 2026; "'Hearsay': Abdul El-Sayed Dismisses Sister's Claims About Family's Muslim Brotherhood Activism," Oct. 14, 2026.
- CBS News, "Abdul El-Sayed's faith and family have come under intense scrutiny in Michigan race. Here's what we know," Oct. 29, 2026.
- Bridge Michigan, "Fact check: No evidence Abdul El-Sayed 'pledged support' to Muslim Brotherhood," Oct. 28, 2026; "Abdul El-Sayed disavows Muslim Brotherhood, responds to claims," Oct. 19, 2026.
- NPR, "Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeats Republican Mike Rogers in key Michigan Senate race," Nov. 4, 2026; NBC News, "Michigan U.S. Senate Election 2026 Live Results: Abdul El-Sayed Wins," Nov. 4-5, 2026.
- Rep. Nancy Mace, press release on the Muslim Brotherhood Is a Terrorist Organization Act, June 10, 2025 (mace.house.gov); WCIV (ABC News 4), June 10, 2025.
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