Nicolai Haugsted
JD Vance mocked with emasculating new nickname as Michigan Senate battle gets personal
Political disagreements in Michigan’s fiercely contested Senate race have moved well beyond polite arguments over taxes and healthcare.
Vice President JD Vance and Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed are now trading personal attacks — and El-Sayed has responded to being called “very, very evil” by giving Vance a decidedly unflattering nickname.
Appearing on MS NOW’s The Beat with Ari Melber on Thursday, El-Sayed referred to the vice president as “Low T, JD,” a jab invoking the abbreviation commonly used for low testosterone.
No evidence was offered regarding Vance’s testosterone levels, and El-Sayed later made clear that his insult was intended as a broader attack on what he views as the vice president’s lack of political strength rather than a medical assessment.
“It’s always funny, man,” El-Sayed said. “He just brings the energy down every time you hear him talk.”
Vance had already turned up the temperature
El-Sayed’s dig followed considerably harsher rhetoric from Vance.
Speaking at a Michigan rally for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, Vance attacked El-Sayed over several controversies and described him in extraordinary terms.
“There’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Vance said.
Republicans have increasingly focused national attention on El-Sayed since he secured the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
Vance’s criticism has included El-Sayed’s comments concerning second lady Usha Vance, as well as his association with streamer Hasan Piker. El-Sayed has publicly rejected Piker’s past statement that the United States “deserved” the September 11 attacks.
Thursday gave El-Sayed his opportunity to fire back.
Ari Melber asks the obvious question
Host Ari Melber did not simply let “Low T, JD” sail past without explanation.
“I believe you’re saying he has low testosterone in your view,” Melber said.
Melber also noted that El-Sayed has accused Rogers of giving off “beta energy” and asked whether the Democrat was literally arguing that his Republican opponents were less masculine.
“What are you doing there? Are you literally saying they are less manly, or they have less manly policies?” Melber asked.
“That’s between them and the people around them,” El-Sayed replied.
“I’m just saying that they like to lead on strength, but I don’t see much strength there.”
El-Sayed then steered his argument away from masculinity and toward political loyalty.
“Strength is about being able to stand up to the problem. The problem is Donald Trump, and you don’t see much standing up to Donald Trump.”
Mike Rogers gets a nickname too
Vance was not the only Republican receiving the nickname treatment.
El-Sayed turned “Mike Rogers” into “Meek Rogers” while accusing his opponent of refusing to challenge Trump over policies that El-Sayed blames for economic problems in Michigan.
“These folks want to parade around like they’re some kind of strong, but they are so meek and so weak,” El-Sayed said.
“Mike Rogers, Meek Rogers, you know, doesn’t really want to say anything in response to Donald Trump’s ridiculous policies that the 10 million people in this state whose votes he’s asking for are suffering under.”
El-Sayed specifically blamed Trump’s policies, including the war with Iran, for high fuel prices and pointed toward grocery costs and access to healthcare as other problems confronting Michigan residents.
Those are political arguments from El-Sayed rather than neutral findings about responsibility for Michigan’s economic conditions.
“I think it’s important for us to point out the clear hypocrisy in the way they present themselves and the way they behave when it comes to the problems that Michiganders are facing,” he added.
Race remains extremely close
Behind the increasingly creative insults sits a Senate contest with little room between the candidates.
A Fox News poll conducted September 24-28 found El-Sayed receiving 50 percent support among likely Michigan voters, compared with 49 percent for Rogers.
The one-point difference falls comfortably inside the poll’s three-percentage-point margin of sampling error, meaning the survey does not establish that either candidate is actually ahead in the electorate.
Fox found a notable shift from its August survey among registered voters. Rogers held a 51-47 advantage at that point, while the latest registered-voter numbers showed El-Sayed at 51 percent and Rogers at 48 percent.
Trump himself is an important factor in the race.
Nearly six in 10 Michigan voters in the latest Fox survey disapproved of his job performance, while 39 percent said they were extremely concerned that Rogers was too close to the president. Thirty-six percent expressed similarly strong concern that El-Sayed’s views were too liberal.
