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Racism has no place in American politics—even from candidates! Not only is she a minority but also a woman (if one can define what a woman is), a mother, and the loyal wife of the Vice President of the United States!

America’s founding promise rests on the idea that every person is created equal. That principle does not bend for party labels, ideology, or ambition. When a candidate for high office traffics in racial insinuation, the response should be the same no matter the source: it is unwelcome here.

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed recently illustrated the problem. After Vice President JD Vance criticized him over past comments on Sharia law, El-Sayed responded on social media by invoking Second Lady Usha Vance.

“So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…”  

The clear implication was that Vance’s rural Midwestern grandfather would reject an Indian-American daughter-in-law on racial grounds. The remark reduced a private family relationship to a stereotype about white rural Americans and treated ethnicity as a political weapon.

That is not sharp policy debate. It is the assumption that an entire group of Americans is defined by bigotry. Candidates who seek the power to represent millions should not casually inject race into personal attacks or treat the spouses and staff of their opponents as fair game for ethnic jabs.

Some will argue that politics is rough and that every side engages in low blows. That is a weak defense.

• The standard is not “everyone does it.”
• The standard is whether the comment treats people as individuals or as representatives of racial categories.

Suggesting that a grandfather would be racist simply because of his background and the ethnicity of his granddaughter-in-law fails that test. So does any rhetoric that paints broad swaths of Americans—rural, white, Midwestern, or otherwise—as inherently prejudiced. Those claims corrode the very civic culture candidates claim they want to improve.

America has spent generations working to reject the idea that ancestry determines worth or loyalty. That work is incomplete, and genuine bigotry still exists. Yet the answer is not selective outrage that condemns racism only when it comes from the Republican Party.

“When a progressive candidate uses ethnicity to score a point against a political rival’s family, it diminishes the person and divides the country along lines we claim to have moved beyond.” Steve Eichler – Patriot Command Center

Racism is not a partisan tool. It is a rejection of the American idea that character and conduct matter more than skin color.

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed: YOU ARE FIRED!