John Fetterman says fellow Dem Abdul El-Sayed has ‘weird little man syndrome energy’ after Michigan Senate candidate called him ‘the biggest issue’

A growing Democratic feud over the pivotal Michigan Senate race turned personal when Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, warned that newly nominated Abdul El-Sayed could put the party’s hold on the seat at risk. Fetterman attacked El-Sayed’s opposition to military aid for Israel, his association with far-left streamer Hasan Piker and what he described as an unnecessarily combative campaign style, saying the Senate candidate has “weird little man syndrome energy.”

Abdul El-Sayed changed the political outlook for the Michigan Senate seat, John Fetterman says

Speaking to The Washington Post, Fetterman said El-Sayed had changed the political outlook for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. “He has put, you know, that seat in play,” Fetterman said. “And after Bernie Sanders and others created the disaster in Maine, and they pushed garbage person like [Graham] Platner, and now they’ve pushed an individual like El-Sayed that’s been very proud of his very deeply anti-Israel views and proud to campaign with an avowed communist overall.”

Fetterman’s criticism of El-Sayed contrasts with the view espoused by Peters, who supported establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens during the primary but said El-Sayed would defeat former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers because of the candidates’ differences on issues affecting Michigan families. “And in the end, that’s why he will prevail,” Peters said.

El-Sayed defeated Stevens in a primary that attracted more than $80 million in spending, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. He will now face Rogers in November.

John Fetterman criticizes Abdul El-Sayed’s relationship with Hasan Piker

El-Sayed’s relationship with Piker has become a central target for Republicans and a major point of criticism from Fetterman. Piker appeared repeatedly alongside El-Sayed, including at a Detroit pool party the night before the primary.

Piker has previously said America “deserved 9/11” and hailed Mao Zedong as “one of the great leaders of this world.” While El-Sayed has clarified that he does not share all of Piker’s views, he has resisted calls to distance himself from the streamer.

The Republican National Committee seized the opportunity to frame El-Sayed as an anti-America public figure who sympathizes with terrorists. “El-Sayed is a terrorist sympathizer and an America-hating socialist. His refusal to distance himself from Hamas-hugging radicals like Hasan Piker reaffirms his true allegiance is to terrorist groups, not America,” RNC National Spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre told Fox News Digital. “Democrats’ refusal to disavow this clown shows they either share his poisonous ideology or they’re too cowardly to confront it,” she added.

In his recent remarks, Fetterman challenged El-Sayed to maintain the relationship with Piker outside the Democratic primary. “I dare you to continue to campaign with people like Hasan Piker because he now will quickly find out it’s easy to campaign in the echo chamber as a Democrat,” Fetterman said.

‘Fetterman is probably the biggest issue’

The dispute became personal after The Washington Post host Kate Andrews played Fetterman a clip in which El-Sayed criticized his political approach. “Fetterman is probably the biggest issue. Fetterman is the sitting counterargument to the kind of Midwest politics that I think really can work,” El-Sayed said in the video. “He’s also just an a**. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s just he seems miserable, and he seems like he doesn’t like the job.”

Fetterman parried El-Sayed’s comments by saying, “He just has like this weird little man syndrome energy just going around insulting people. … And, you know, that’s the kind of campaign that he’s run.”

Abdul El-Sayed’s biggest challenge: Uniting Dems after a divisive primary

The dispute exposes the challenge El-Sayed faces in bringing together Democrats after a divisive primary. Before the election, he said he intended to unite the supporters of his opponents in the primary against Rogers. “I think everybody understands what the stakes are. So I’m looking forward to welcoming everybody who might have voted differently in the primary,” El-Sayed previously told Fox News Digital.

However, that effort suffered an early setback when Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel to House Judiciary Committee Democrats, announced he would support Rogers. Epstein said the Democratic Party had moved too far left and “lost its moral center.”