Ted Cruz calls El-Sayed a "jihadist leprechaun" at campaign stop

Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan — At a campaign event outside of Detroit, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas attempted to tie Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood — a claim El-Sayed has repeatedly denied.

"My nickname for the guy is the jihadist leprechaun," Cruz said about El-Sayed. 

Cruz later said that El-Sayed would get top-level security clearance as a U.S. Senator if elected, claiming that El-Sayed could be put on the Senate Intelligence Committee, "and if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result."

The insinuation El-Sayed has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood has been a core part of the closing message for Republican nominee Mike Rogers in what is expected to be a razor-tight Senate race in Michigan. Some branches of the group were designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration in January. 

El-Sayed said in a recent interview with Fox News: "I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood."

El-Sayed and his campaign have condemned the claims, describing them as "a bigoted anti-Muslim smear campaign" against El-Sayed and portraying them as an effort by Republicans to distract from voter frustration with the economy. At a town hall earlier this month, El-Sayed said he "absolutely" disavows the Muslim Brotherhood.

When told by CBS News about Cruz's comments on Wednesday, El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak said, "Ted Cruz is a deeply unpopular politician who has long supported policies that hurt Michigan families, including voting to cut healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Michiganders."

"His dangerous comments are just the latest example of Mike Rogers and his MAGA allies attempting to distract voters from the fact that the price of gas, groceries, and everything else has skyrocketed due to the failed policies of the Trump administration," Wozniak added. 

The GOP claims mainly arose after posts from El-Sayed's half-sister, Fatten Elkomy, in 2012 and 2013, where she said their birthmother had been active in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt during the early 1970s when she was in college. El-Sayed, who was born in the U.S., has said his parents divorced when he was 3 years old, and he was brought up by his stepmother. He has added that he has not talked to his birthmother about her past involvement with the group, decades before the U.S. added it to its list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

On Wednesday, Cruz also pointed to El-Sayed's role as president with the Muslim Students' Association chapter at the University of Michigan, and a 2011 op-ed he wrote supporting protests against Egyptian dictator Mubarak, who then-President Barack Obama called on to step down during the Arab Spring protests. 

Cruz and Rogers also noted an open letter El-Sayed signed when he was a medical student in 2012 in support of then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader who represented the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Morsi's "purge" of supporters of the Mubarak dictatorship within the media and police. The Obama administration had engaged with the Morsi government until the Egyptian military removed him from power in July 2013. 

As a congressman in 2012, Rogers said "there are moderate Muslim Brotherhood members the U.S will have to talk to" but added "we are going to have to watch it carefully." While in Congress, Rogers voted for legislation that continued funding for Egypt while the country was led by Morsi. 

Asked about it by NBC last Sunday, Rogers said he wanted to try and maintain U.S. relationships with intelligence services in Egypt "that the Muslim Brotherhood was trying to undo."

The Muslim Brotherhood is currently banned in several Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Asked Tuesday night by reporters if he has concerns about the Qatari-gifted Air Force One, given that Qatar provides financial and political support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Rogers deflected and voiced concern about Qatari funding in U.S. colleges.

Asked why his closing message has been focused on El-Sayed's birthmother's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s, well before their designated terrorist group status, the Rogers campaign said the group "stands for ideologies directly in contrast with American ideologies." The campaign also highlighted when El-Sayed told NBC News he has no ties to the group, before news of his birthmother's past activism spread. 

El-Sayed has argued Republicans are trying to suggest he'd have "dual loyalties" to the U.S. and another country if he's elected.

"My mom and my sister are not running for office. I'm running for office. Judge me by my actions and my work, but please do not assume that because I might pray differently than anybody who's ever held this office, that somehow I am not deeply committed to this Constitution," El-Sayed said in Marquette, Michigan, on Oct. 16. 

Asked after the event if he believes El-Sayed would have dual loyalties, Cruz demurred.

"I don't know about dual loyalties. The demonstrated loyalties he has are to the Muslim Brotherhood," Cruz told reporters. "He tries to say, 'It doesn't matter how I pray.' I agree. It doesn't matter how he prays. I'm not talking about how he prays. I'm talking about ideology and advocating for and supporting a terrorist organization."

Republicans outside of Michigan have escalated anti-Muslim attacks against El-Sayed as Election Day draws closer, with President Trump over the weekend referring to the Democratic candidate as a "jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member." 

Cruz also claimed that if El-Sayed wins, progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a top El-Sayed supporter, would be the Democratic nominee for president in 2028. "For those who think, 'Well, good, if they nominate AOC, that means Republicans win in 28.' I just want to warn you, we're a divided country. How many people on September 11, 2001, could have possibly imagined that Zohran Mamdani would be the mayor of New York City?"

"Look, if AOC is the nominee, she could win," Cruz said. 

At the event, El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, repeated his remarks from the previous night, calling the Michigan matchup the "most important race in the country." 

"The rest of the country is waiting on us to get this right," he said. "Socialism married with that Muslim Brotherhood ideology... He wants to represent Palestine, I want to represent Michigan."

Asked on Tuesday night why he's making this a focus for his campaign in the closing week, Rogers claimed El-Sayed is a liar about having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

"When you can't tell the truth about things that matter on life and death, I just don't think you have any business being in the United States Senate, and people need to know that," Rogers said.

The Michigan Senate race is one of the most-watched races in the country. The longtime Democratic stronghold voted for President Trump in 2016 and 2024, but elected Democrat Elissa Slotkin to the Senate in 2024. CBS News Battleground Tracker rates the race as a toss up.