Dems Blast El-Sayed Over 'Ogre on a Pike' Remark

Michigan's Democratic Senate primary just got a new flashpoint, courtesy of a leaked donor call in which progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed talked about putting "one ogre on a pike" to send a message to fellow Democrats. In audio obtained by Politico, El-Sayed suggested he'd be willing to back a primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman, saying, "y'all came at me so now I get to come at you." His campaign later said he was speaking metaphorically about taking on party incumbents, not endorsing violence.

• Democrats quickly condemned the language. "Violent, vulgar threats have no place in a democratic electoral contest," Rep. Hillary Scholten said, warning it further inflames an already volatile climate. Gun-control activists Shannon Watts and Fred Guttenberg accused El-Sayed and his Democratic Socialists of America allies of targeting their own party. Guttenberg urged voters to back Rep. Haley Stevens instead. Republicans also seized on the remark, with at least one invoking anti-Muslim tropes.
• Some Democrats argued that the "ogre" line fed into existing concerns about sexism in the race, though El-Sayed did not mention Stevens on the call.

• During Monday night's debate, the last one before the Aug. 4 primary, El-Sayed said he had been talking not about his rival but about Fetterman, who has shifted to the right since taking office, the Guardian reports. Fetterman, he said, "has done terrible things, got elected on a set of values, and is now completely throwing those values in the mud." Stevens said, "Thank you for clarifying that you didn't call me an ogre."
• "I never worked out in male modeling, call me Senator Shrek, whatever," said Fetterman, long mocked for his appearance. He slammed El-Sayed as the "Pontiac Platner," likening him to Graham Platner, who dropped out of the Senate race in Maine after he was accused of rape, the Hill reports. El-Sayed and Platner have both strongly criticized Israel. Fetterman said El-Sayed is the "head of our emerging pro-Hamas wing here in the party."