To that end, El-Sayed already has started an effort to make him seem more familiar. In one of the best ads of this entire campaign year, El-Sayed’s grandparents speak directly to the camera to tell his story like any other family. In one of the ugliest of the year, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is airing ads highlighting the Democrat’s full name: Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.
The naked play at fear-mongering has its limits, though. Ask two-term President Barack Hussein Obama. (For the record, Obama’s pastor became an issue in the 2008 campaign for his rhetoric, but it was still a Christian church.)
Or take another Democrat who got a trial as the boogeyman of the day: New York Mayor Zorhan Mamdani, whose parents are of Indian descent and is the first Muslim to lead the nation’s biggest city. The democratic socialist drew harsh fire during his campaign and early in his tenure; even Trump seemed fixated on him. Others in the party have followed suit. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a conservative Republican, recently called both El-Sayed and Mandani “Islamists.”
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