Abdul El-Sayed's Fiery Clash with British Reporter: What Ignited the Confrontation?
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Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed got into a heated back-and-forth with a British reporter Tuesday and accused the journalist of “chasing” him.
“Are you registered to vote in the state of Michigan?” the Democratic candidate asked Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews.
Matthews acknowledged that he wasn’t.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 3, 2026Michigan's Democratic candidate for Senate Abdul El-Sayed confronted @jamesmatthewsky, telling him he wouldn't answer his questions as he wants "zero" votes in the UK.
Watch the heated exchange between the two.
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To which, El-Sayed responded: “Then why would I care to have a conversation with you?”
Matthews explained that he’s a journalist and that the result of the Michigan Senate race “matters to the world.”
“You know how many votes I want to get into the U.K.? Zero,” El-Sayed told him. “I do not care what you think or the questions you ask.”
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By this point in the exchange, El-Sayed had both his hands on the reporter’s shoulders.
“I’m asking you to stop chasing me around,” El-Sayed demanded, before walking off.
El-Sayed is no stranger to clashes with reporters.
“You’re really asking the questions people want to hear … Ask me a serious question,” he condescendingly told a reporter over the weekend asking about his communications with former Democratic primary rival Haley Stevens.
Last month, El-Sayed snapped at NBC News’ Tom Llamas, as well as Fox News’ Bret Baier, in separate interviews when asked about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“It’s funny to me … I was raised here in Michigan, went to the University of Michigan, rebuilt the health department in this city, led the health department in this county — and you want to ask me about what’s happening in Egypt in 1970? Are you serious?” he barked at Llamas.
In his interview with Baier, the Senate hopeful immediately got defensive and repeatedly interrupted the “Special Report” host when pressed about a 2012 letter addressed to the leader of the extremist group in Egypt that he appeared to have signed.
“Bret, Bret … no, no, no … let me just stop there,” El-Sayed interjected, cutting off Baier before he could finish the question.
“I’m not interested in anything you’re going to pull out from a 2012 statement, a letter, you’re going to pull that out of context, you’re going to ask questions about my allegiance,” he said.
“Don’t be Rogers’ campaign. Be a journalist,” El-Sayed snapped.
El-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers in the key Senate race.
