A 2022 recording of Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed speaking at a CAIR gathering has emerged showing him tying Oklahoma voters approval of a constitutional change against Sharia to earlier episodes of Native American displacement, the wrecking of Black Wall Street, and a building blast. He said he could not explain the bans purpose even as the referendum succeeded and presented those episodes plus the Sharia vote as expressions of the same continuing pressures.

Ted Cruz recently told a Republican convention audience that Sharia has no role in the United States and clashes with the Constitution. El-Sayed campaign staff later confirmed he personally follows Sharia after an older interview resurfaced, while a spokeswoman added that he backs church-state separation and rejects any religious community writing its rules into national statutes.

After El-Sayed took the Democratic primary, Republican rival Mike Rogers called him an extremist and charged that he backs the Muslim Brotherhood, campaigns alongside people who will not denounce terrorism, wants prisons emptied, and favors large tax hikes.