Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — who has questioned whether police officers need to carry guns — spent years on the campaign trail protected by an armed guard, according to his former security director.
El-Sayed, who has been endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in the Democratic primary, has faced renewed scrutiny after a 2020 University of Michigan video resurfaced showing him questioning police funding and the need for armed officers. During his Senate campaign, however, he has said he does not support defunding police.
“Do people really need to use guns? Do we need as much of a police force?” he asks in the resurfaced 2020 clip.
Jordan Domingue, a former Marine combat veteran who served as El-Sayed’s security director, accused the candidate of hypocrisy after the resurfaced clip circulated online.
“I protected this man with a gun for two years, some average of 6-7 days a week, typically 12-16 hour days,” he raged on X. “Like so many things with Abdul, it’s pure hypocrisy.
“A small part of me hopes he could win in order to expose the bottomless pit of populism and the heroes leftist continue create…he might be the only candidate to lose to a Republican in a blue wave cycle.”
Domingue was director of security for El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate campaign from April 2025 to January 2026 — when he abruptly resigned saying his boss was unfit for the post, according to an interview he gave the Michigan Enjoyer in April. Domingue didn’t return The Post’s request for comment.
He also held the role and provided armed security in 2017 and 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile, when El-Sayed came in second against Gretchen Whitmer in the Democratic primary for Michigan governor. During that time the Muslim candidate claimed he was receiving death threats.
Some of the socialist’s more recent and controversial comments have included claiming Israel is “just as evil” as Hamas, and that Michigan voters were “sad” over the death of Iran’s hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes in February.
His three-way Democratic primary is on Aug. 4.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not return The Post’s request for comment.
