Vice President JD Vance escalated a bitter feud with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Monday, telling a rally crowd there is "something about" El-Sayed "that is very, very evil" and warning the physician-turned-candidate to "keep my wife's name the hell out of your mouth."

Vance made the remarks while campaigning in Michigan for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, spending much of his appearance not on the economy or the GOP's midterm message but on attacking El-Sayed directly, casting him as a symbol of a broader trend of Americans "fighting for one group at the expense of others."

How the Fight Started

The clash traces back to comments Vance made invoking his grandfather — "Papaw" — in a riff about which Americans count as authentically American. El-Sayed responded on social media by asking whether Vance was "taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw," a jab pointing out that Vance's own wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. El-Sayed later said he was making a point about the hypocrisy of measuring belonging by how long a family has been in the country, not attacking Usha Vance personally.

"KEEP MY WIFE'S NAME THE HELL OUT OF YOUR MOUTH" — VP JD VANCE

Vance also revived a separate controversy from earlier this year, when El-Sayed said in the aftermath of a March attack on Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, that "violence is a cycle" and "hurt people hurt people" — remarks widely read as minimizing the attack. El-Sayed apologized for the comment this past weekend, calling it a mistake, but Vance cited it Monday as evidence of a pattern.

El-Sayed pushed back in a CNN interview, rejecting the "evil" label and accusing Vance of importing national culture-war rhetoric into a race Michigan voters care about for pocketbook reasons — jobs, health care and the cost of living. Vance countered that voters "would like you to talk about the public policy ideas" rather than picking fights over family.

The seat is open because longtime Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced in January 2025 that he would not seek re-election, setting up one of the most closely watched contests of the midterm cycle in a battleground state. Recent polling has El-Sayed — who would become the first Muslim senator in US history if elected — narrowly ahead of Rogers, with the two effectively tied within the margin of error, in a race both parties see as pivotal to control of the Senate. Both campaigns are now treating the feud as a preview of just how personal, and how national, the fight for Michigan is likely to get before November.