Vice President JD Vance used a Michigan rally on Monday to turn a growing campaign feud with Abdul El-Sayed into a personal warning over comments about Second Lady Usha Vance. The exchange, first highlighted by Mediaite, came during a pro-MAGA event in Sterling Heights as Republicans sharpen their attacks in Michigan’s Senate race.
Vance accused El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, of repeatedly dragging his family into political attacks. Then he delivered the line that quickly drew comparisons to Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars outburst at Chris Rock. “Whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell outta your mouth, because she’s way outta your league!”
The crowd responded loudly, according to Mediaite’s report. Vance’s phrasing echoed Smith’s “Keep my wife’s name out ya f****** mouth!” from the Oscars, though this was a political rally. The vice president framed the issue as part of what he called El-Sayed’s “weird habit” of talking about his wife and children, a complaint that fits a longer pattern of attacks on Usha Vance becoming political flashpoints.
The fight had been building before the rally
The back-and-forth did not start on the rally stage. El-Sayed previously referred to Usha Vance on a podcast in April while criticizing Vance’s politics and family life. “What do you think is going through Usha’s head when he talks? She’s like, ‘Damn, I have to sleep with him,’” El-Sayed said.
“I guess she’s pregnant so something is happening,” El-Sayed went on. “Can you imagine, he’s got Brown kids, at some point he’s going to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like, you made your career hating people who are different.”
More recently, El-Sayed suggested Vance would not have introduced his wife to his grandfather because of Vance’s and his “Papaw’s” views on Sharia Law. That attack has drawn criticism partly because Usha Vance was raised Hindu, not Muslim, and because it folded her background into a dispute centered on El-Sayed’s campaign and Republican claims about Islamic law. Mediaite noted that the dig “didn’t make a ton of sense” for that reason.
Vance widened the attack beyond his wife during the same remarks. “My message to Abdul El-Sayed is you can pal around with terrorist sympathizers, and you can say that America deserved 9/11 or you could empathize not with the children who were targeted at Temple Israel but with the attacker,” Vance said. “These are all despicable things, but they’re all things the people of Michigan will judge you on.”
El-Sayed has pushed back on Vance’s response. In a CNN appearance covered by Mediaite on Tuesday, he called Vance’s anger “hypocrisy” and argued that President Donald Trump had helped make spouses fair game in political ridicule. That answer suggests the dispute may continue as both parties treat Michigan as one of the most closely watched Senate contests of 2026, especially after El-Sayed’s synagogue apology had already put him under pressure.
Published: Sep 2, 2026 06:00 am