Kathrine Frich
Commentator Matt Binder summed up the contrast in four words: “Abdul won. JFK’s grandkid lost.”
Famous political quotes have a long shelf life on the campaign trail.
Candidates love borrowing lines from the history books to win over skeptical voters, though invoking a legendary family name can quickly draw fire from the relatives left behind.
A family name
That tension erupted online this week after Abdul El-Sayed won his race in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate, according to the Irish Star.
Throughout the race, the 42-year-old compared questions about his religion to the skepticism John F. Kennedy faced before becoming America’s first Catholic president.
On Facebook, El-Sayed wrote, “When JFK ran, they said the country would never elect a Catholic president.”
He also echoed one of the late Irish American leader’s most famous lines during a town hall when voters asked if his faith would come before the country.
Kennedy once declared, “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic,” and El-Sayed told his audience, “I’m not running to be a Muslim senator. I’m running for the U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim.”
Kennedy’s grandson, online commentator Jack Schlossberg, did not care for the comparison. Taking to X, he wrote, “Senator-elect El Sayed (sic) invoked JFK’s faith to compare his election to that of the first Catholic president. JFK ran on policy and took questions on religion. Abdul did the opposite.”
Instant online backlash
The post backfired right away. Critics quickly called Schlossberg “bitter” over his own June Democratic primary loss for New York’s 12th Congressional District seat in the House of Representatives, the Irish Star reported.
Columnist Laura Bassett replied on X, “Genuinely, what the f are you talking about?”
Meanwhile, commentator Matt Binder summed up the contrast in four words: “Abdul won. JFK’s grandkid lost.”
Another user piled on by asking, “You ran one of the worst campaigns of all time and are now calling out people who won theirs?”
Despite the wave of negative replies, the Irish Star noted that Schlossberg has neither answered his critics nor taken the post down.
