Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, was recorded in a staff meeting strategizing about how to avoid taking a public position on the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei. His reason: people in Dearborn, Michigan, are "sad."
The leaked audio, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, captures El-Sayed coaching his team on messaging after Khamenei was killed during U.S. and Israeli military action. What he told them is worth hearing in full.
"I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just don't want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I don't think it's worth even touching that."
A man who murdered dissidents, funded terrorism across the globe, and oversaw a regime that chanted "Death to America" as official policy is dead. And a candidate for the United States Senate cannot bring himself to say that's a good thing because some of his voters might be upset.
It got worse. El-Sayed also outlined his preferred response if pressed by a reporter, and it had nothing to do with Iran's reign of terror:
"I'm just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly. I'll just be like, 'Pedophile president decides that he doesn't like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war.'"
That's the strategy. Don't address the dead tyrant. Deflect with a smear. Change the subject.
The backlash was swift and bipartisan. Even Kevin Walling, a former Biden-Harris surrogate, called the news "disqualifying." When you've lost your own side's operatives, the spin isn't working.
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers didn't mince words:
"Rather than empathize with the 140 kids whose lives were threatened in the Michigan synagogue attack, the thousands of Americans murdered by Iran, or the victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism around the world, he instead chooses to empathize with the terrorists who committed these vile acts."
Rogers also noted that El-Sayed recently agreed to team up with Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who once said "America deserved 9/11." That's the company El-Sayed keeps by choice, as Fox News reports.
Across social media, the verdict was unanimous:
On Monday afternoon, El-Sayed's campaign released a statement that tried to redirect the conversation entirely. It called the Washington Free Beacon's report a "distraction" and accused the outlet of having "illegally and unethically obtained" the recording from a "disgruntled former employee."
Notice what the statement does not do. It does not deny the audio. It does not dispute the quotes. It does not explain why a U.S. Senate candidate thinks the proper response to the death of a terror-sponsoring dictator is strategic silence.
Instead, the campaign pivoted to this:
"They're distracting from the fact that Donald Trump, Mike Rogers, the entire MAGA base doesn't want to talk about the pain they're forcing us all into."
This is a familiar play. Get caught saying something indefensible, then insist the real scandal is that someone recorded you saying it. The content of the audio is not addressed because it cannot be addressed. There is no good answer for why a man seeking federal office must tiptoe around the death of Ayatollah Khamenei to avoid offending a constituency in Dearborn.
El-Sayed squares off against Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in the primary, set for August 4, to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters. The seat is considered a key battleground heading into November's consequential midterms.
The leaked audio illustrates a problem that extends far beyond one candidate. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has built coalitions that require them to remain silent about, or sympathetic toward, some of the worst regimes on earth. It is not an accident that El-Sayed's instinct was suppression rather than celebration. He wasn't confused about the right moral answer. He knew it. He calculated that saying it out loud would cost him votes.
That calculation tells you everything about who his coalition is and what it demands. When your electoral math requires you to treat the death of a tyrant as a sensitivity issue, you have ceased to be a serious candidate for American governance.
El-Sayed also released a public statement that leaned into anti-war messaging, referencing "13 brave service members" who lost their lives and claiming Americans are "paying over a dollar a gallon more" in gas prices. He called the military action an "illegal and unjustifiable war." The framing is deliberate: cast America and Israel as aggressors, position Iran's regime as a victim of circumstance, and hope nobody notices you can't say the dead dictator deserved it.
Political candidates have private strategy conversations. That is unremarkable. What is remarkable is what the strategy reveals about the candidate's values when the cameras are off.
El-Sayed did not say, in private, what he believed and then soften it for public consumption. He said, in private, that he believed nothing should be said at all. The goal was not to find the right message. The goal was to find no message. Silence was the strategy because honesty was the threat.
Michigan voters now have a clear picture of how Abdul El-Sayed operates: say nothing that might upset the most radical elements of your base, deflect with personal attacks when cornered, and blame the messenger when the tape leaks.
The tape didn't create the problem. It just let everyone hear it.