Tucker Carlson, co-founder of the Daily Caller News Foundation, refuted claims on Monday that he had endorsed Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the Michigan Senate.
Reports in the media suggested that Carlson’s comments during a September 2 episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show,” where he stated he wouldn’t vote for Republican candidate Mike Rogers “at gunpoint,” were interpreted as an endorsement of El-Sayed. However, in a more recent episode, Carlson insisted that he never backed El-Sayed or any candidate in Michigan, but rather criticized Rogers for not being a genuine conservative.
“That’s the candidate in Michigan I supposedly endorsed … which is absurd,” Carlson commented. “I don’t know anything about him.”
When journalist Max Blumenthal asked, “Did you [endorse him]?” Carlson replied, “Of course not. I didn’t endorse anybody. I’m a podcaster. But, moreover, I just know the guy he’s running against, Mike Rogers, who’s a loathsome person. Mike Rogers is exactly the Republican you run if you want to lose and they ran him before and he lost. Because no normal person would vote for Mike Rogers. He is the embodiment of everything that is ugly, immoral and stupid about the national security state. He is a tool of repression. He’s totally for warrantless spying and searches and everything that a conservative should be against. Mike Rogers is not a conservative to put it mildly. So I said, ‘this is craziness, you’re Mike Rogers?’ No way! And they’re like ‘well you endorsed the Muslim guy!’”
Previously serving in the House and chairing the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2011 to 2015, Rogers had supported U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran and has been a strong ally of Israel.
Carlson accused Rogers of being “basically a tool of Israel and the intel agencies,” as reported by The Detroit News.
“There is no one that should be farther from a position of power than Mike Rogers,” he stated.
In 2024, Rogers lost a Senate bid to Democratic Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, has been endorsed by prominent figures like independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York. His campaign focuses on issues like Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, codifying abortion rights, and supporting “gender-affirming care,” according to his campaign website. Contrary to the socialist label often attached to him, he describes himself as a “capitalist” aiming to regulate monopolies and oligopolies.
In the Democratic primary held in August, El-Sayed narrowly defeated his more moderate rival, Democratic Representative Haley Stevens, by just one point.
