Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed compared his past criticism of President Barack Obama to tensions with loved ones in a new interview, weeks before the men are set to campaign together in Detroit.
"Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker pressed El-Sayed about his 2012 allegations that Obama "perpetuated war" and "violated civil liberties," and he added at the time that "the list of his failures goes on."
"I know that President Obama was handed a really difficult set of circumstances, and he did his best," El-Sayed told Welker, appearing to walk back the criticism before asking the NBC moderator if her parents were still "with us." She replied, "They are, thank goodness."
El-Sayed then compared his past statements about Obama to his own father's
parenting. "I wouldn't have my life but for my dad's efforts... At the same time, there's a lot of things about my dad I would do differently, right?" El-Sayed said.
"He did his best with the circumstances he had, and it's the opportunity to pass that along to another generation of leaders," the Democratic candidate added later in the interview.
Obama will headline a rally with El-Sayed on Oct. 24 in Detroit alongside Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state and the Democratic nominee vying to succeed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
El-Sayed is running against former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin by less than half a percentage point in 2024 while Trump carried Michigan by over 1 point
'Of course I regret that'
The Michigan Democrat didn't just address his past controversial comments on Obama during the "Meet the Press" interview.
Welker noted that El-Sayed faced backlash in March after an attack at a Michigan synagogue, when he condemned the shooting but also said that "hurt people hurt people" while addressing that the attacker had lost relatives in an Israeli strike on Lebanon. The comment drew criticism from some Jewish residents of Michigan, including Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel.
El-Sayed later apologized, saying "What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn't the time for context."
El-Sayed again apologized during the NBC interview and said he spoke with Sen. Slotkin, who is Jewish, about the remark.
"I regret anytime, you know, if I step on somebody's grief, of course I regret that. And I really wish I'd thought about how somebody would have felt hearing that, and thought twice about making those comments," El-Sayed said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: El-Sayed walks back Obama criticism, apologizes for synagogue shooting comment
