From FactCheck.org · D'Angelo Gore · · 4m
Republican ads distort El-Sayed's police and prison positions
Ads attacking Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed omit context and exaggerate his past statements on defunding police and reducing incarceration.
In brief
Ads attacking Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed omit context and exaggerate his past statements on defunding police and reducing incarceration. Republican ads misrepresent Abdul El-Sayed's positions on policing and prisons by omitting context from 2020 statements he no longer emphasizes in his 2026…
Ads attack El-Sayed on policing and prisons
Multiple Republican-aligned ads airing in Michigan attack Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for past statements about policing and prisons, but omit context or exaggerate his positions.
El-Sayed denies defunding police claim
El-Sayed and his campaign say he is not pushing to defund the police. He spoke in 2020 about reallocating some police funding but now campaigns on investing in recruitment, retention and retirement for law enforcement.
Prison abolition claim is false
El-Sayed never called for abolishing prisons. The claim stems from a 2020 webinar where he discussed reducing Michigan's prison population during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commutation plan is from 2018 campaign
The claim about commuting sentences for murderers and rapists refers to a proposal from El-Sayed's unsuccessful 2018 campaign for Michigan governor, not his current 2026 Senate run.
Who is running against El-Sayed
El-Sayed is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, an Army veteran who also worked for the FBI.
National Republican Senatorial Committee ad
The National Republican Senatorial Committee paid for an ad featuring a woman saying she does not trust El-Sayed with her four children's safety, claiming he supported defunding police and abolishing prisons.
SLF PAC and No Going Back ads
An SLF PAC ad and a No Going Back PAC Inc. ad, linked to President Donald Trump, use the same audio of El-Sayed discussing defunding police and reducing sentences to suggest he wants to release…
El-Sayed's 2020 defund statement
In June 2020, El-Sayed told Detroit's NPR station he believed the police needed to be defunded, but his fuller statement explained he meant reallocating funding from police to education, public health and anti-poverty programs.
“I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets, and investing more in the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities.”
El-Sayed prefers term re-funding
El-Sayed said he preferred the term re-funding, wanting to redirect police funding used for military equipment toward public health, libraries and schools to uproot poverty.
“I want to re-fund on the taxpayer dollars that I pay to police who use that to buy war materiel to wage war in our streets, and I want to re-fund public health and public libraries and public schools and the means of uprooting poverty.”
El-Sayed deleted old social media posts
CNN's KFile found El-Sayed had deleted several old social media posts about defunding police. He later said he deleted them because he did not want them to be taken out of context.
El-Sayed's current Senate campaign position
While campaigning for Senate in 2026, El-Sayed has talked about wanting to invest in, not defund, law enforcement.
El-Sayed's July 2 CNN interview
In a July 2 CNN interview, El-Sayed said the real question is what kind of system people want, not whether to fund or defund police.
“Too often the conversation we have is fund or defund. The question that we don't ask is, 'What kind of system do we really want?'”
El-Sayed's 2020 webinar on prisons
In August 2020, El-Sayed participated in a webinar hosted by the Carceral State Project at the University of Michigan discussing reducing prison populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, not abolishing prisons entirely.
El-Sayed's fuller prison statement
El-Sayed said efforts to release people from jails and prisons should be policy, particularly during the pandemic, but this should continue after because society should not need a global pandemic to find its humanity.
“Any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons and to keep people out of jails and prisons is policy that we need to be investing in, particularly right now.”
El-Sayed's 2018 governor plan details
El-Sayed's 2018 governor campaign proposed reviewing sentences of prisoners sentenced before age 18, nearly 4,000 as of March 2013, with aim of commuting sentences for those deemed low risk or serving more than 25 years.
El-Sayed clarifies 2018 plan intent
In a September 19 town hall, El-Sayed said his 2018 plan meant that a minor convicted of a petty crime should not have that crime follow them for life, distinguishing petty from violent crime.
“That crime shouldn't follow them the rest of their lives. That's it.”
What it means
Republican ads misrepresent Abdul El-Sayed's positions on policing and prisons by omitting context from 2020 statements he no longer emphasizes in his 2026 Senate campaign.
