A Desperate El-Sayed Campaign Is Now Tapping the Old Soviet Propaganda Playbook

In Michigan, you don’t have to wait for the ballots to hit the streets for the shenanigans to start in the hotly contested Senate race that pits Hasan Piker’s BFF Abdul El-Sayed against Republican Mike Rogers, a former U.S. congressional representative and a military veteran. In two separate investigations, the Washington Free Beacon has exposed some questionable tactics the Democrats appear to be using to trick the electorate into thinking El-Sayed is someone he’s not. The whole mess is reminiscent of Soviet-style communist propaganda tactics.

The first involves allegations that the El-Sayed campaign paid a black pastor $82,500 to host the controversial Democrat candidate at a “clergy round table” in order to try to shore up the black vote for the campaign.

The second investigation centers on revelations that a “Soros-funded fake news site falsely identified Abdul El-Sayed as 'Veteran'” in a mailer that was sent to voters.

On the matter of that pseudo church donation, the Free Beacon reported that when El-Sayed showed up at that “’clergy round table’ with a black Detroit pastor to whom the El-Sayed campaign has quietly paid $82,500 for ‘strategic consulting,’” he did so after realizing that black voters aren’t all that into him.

Pastor Horace Sheffield had the honor of receiving that check, though the man of the cloth forgot to mention this when he went on the radio and said, “Lord help this man win.” The good thing is God knows what’s going on and will use His own discretion as He always does.

Sheffield is the pastor of New Destiny Christian Fellowship. He also just happens to be the father of Detroit's mayor Mary Sheffield. Can I get an “Amen?”

Abdul El-Sayed will appear at a "clergy round table" this week with a black Detroit pastor to whom the El-Sayed campaign has quietly paid $82,500 for "strategic consulting," part of a gambit to help the far-left Democrat shore up his anemic support from black voters, @ChuckRossDC… pic.twitter.com/utp9KhVsRj
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 26, 2026

PR staging style note: When you participate in a press conference, get out of your pajamas and put on some real clothes.

Presumably, Sheffield, the senior, is praying to a Christian God so that an Islamist who refuses to distance himself from Sharia law can get elected to the U.S. Senate. Everyone has a price, right?

With arrangements for Sheffield’s endorsement behind him, El-Sayed is now proudly proclaiming that he has earned the support of the popular black pastor and is deserving of the support of Michigan’s black voters.

The Free Beacon reports that all of this “comes as El-Sayed and Sheffield have faced allegations of political ‘pay-for-play’ over their lucrative but undisclosed financial relationship. El-Sayed has touted the endorsement of Sheffield, whom he calls a ‘Detroit political powerhouse and community advocate,’ on the campaign trail and his campaign website, but without mentioning that his campaign pays $7,500 per month to the Ecumenical Ministers Alliance (Sheffield’s nonprofit) for ‘consulting.’”

Since October of last year, those payments now total $82,500.

El-Sayed has struggled to woo black voters, many of whom are more socially conservative than the candidate, a close ally of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party who supports sex-change surgeries for minors and allowing biological males in women's sports. In addition to his alliance with Sheffield and other black church leaders, El-Sayed has cozied up to members of the Nation of Islam, an antisemitic group that nonetheless has considerable influence among Detroit's black community, the Free Beacon reported.

The second Free Beacon investigation exposed something that may be arguably even more sleazy and duplicitous. According to the news site, “A left-wing dark money network funded by the Democratic megadonor George Soros sent voters in Michigan unsolicited mailers resembling a newspaper that falsely identified Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as a ‘veteran.’”

What the investigation found was that a campaign mailer that looked like a local newspaper called the Michigan Independent misleadingly described El-Sayed as a military veteran. For the record, he has never served in the U.S. armed forces.

The whole operation feels like classic Soviet propaganda converted to the current American political environment.

“The mailer, from the Michigan Independent—part of a national left-wing organization founded by the Democratic operative David Brock, the American Independent—is designed to look like a nonpartisan local newspaper,” the Free Beacon reported. “Partisan content aimed at propping up Democrats is peppered amid recipes for ‘Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake’ from ‘The Mitten Kitchen.’ The partisan content includes a piece on El-Sayed's primary win headlined, ‘El-Sayed — veteran, doctor, and former health official — is Democratic Senate pick.’”

In addition to his lack of military experience, El-Sayed has never worked as a physician. There is a difference between graduating from medical school and becoming licensed to practice as a medical doctor. The newly contrived news site makes no attempt to clarify this; instead, it creates confusion by describing El-Sayed simply as a doctor.

A left-wing dark money network founded by the Democratic operative David Brock and bankrolled by the Democratic megadonor George Soros sent Michigan voters newspaper-like mailers falsely identifying Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as a “veteran,” @CAndersonMO and… pic.twitter.com/3iu1L0nQHS
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 27, 2026

If the name David Brock sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the founder of Media Matters for America, the rabid, leftist, so-called media watchdog group that has worked to destroy every major conservative journalist and pundit that’s crossed its path since it was founded.

The Free Beacon reported that the Michigan Independent mailer follows on some previous and similar tactics Brock has deployed to try to get Democrat candidates elected.

“The mailer is the latest example of Brock's outfit attempting to influence elections through misleading mailers masquerading as news,” the Free Beacon wrote. “In 2021, the ‘Virginia Edition’ of the American Independent sent unsolicited mailers to voters falsely claiming that then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin called COVID relief ‘unnecessary”… The following year, in 2022, the group's state arms in Pennsylvania and Arizona ran paid Facebook ads pushing articles like ‘Arizona Republicans out of touch with constituents on abortion rights.’”

El-Sayed's message platform

Out of curiosity, I did a little analysis of the Michigan Independent to do some casual reverse-engineering of Brock’s key messaging. When you do this, you learn what their focus groups are telling them that voters most care about. Consider these articles/headlines from the mailer and related news site:

Based on this, it’s clear that Brock and the El-Sayed campaign believe that El-Sayed will defeat Rogers on the affordability issue. Inflation, tariffs, your grocery bill, Medicare, health insurance costs, and gas prices are all the hot buttons El-Sayed and the left will continue to push in order to hold a Senate seat for the Democrats. The last time a Republican won a Senate race in Michigan was in 1994 when Spencer Abraham defeated incumbent Democrat Don Riegle.

The knee-jerk reaction on the part of conservatives might be to try to simply counter the left on the same playing field and try to win on affordability. But to do so would be to ignore El-Sayed’s unique vulnerabilities, which are expanding by the day. He’s sympathetic to antisemites, he refuses to distance himself from Sharia law, he’s been openly anti-American in numerous cases, and he’s socially aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on most issues.

With El-Sayed you get men competing in women’s sports, pro-abortion policies, more illegal immigration and amnesty for those who have already broken American law to get here.

Rogers and the Republicans have to have a credible and effective platform for affordability, but to win in November, they also have to hit the Democrats where they are most vulnerable, and that is on the many social issues where they are out of step with mainstream America. If the El-Sayed campaign’s payments to a black pastor are any indication, they are grossly out of step with black Americans as well. In Michigan, that's a part of the Democrat base that they can't win without.

Author's Note: Find out what you’re missing behind the members-only wall. It’s time for you to take advantage of the full catalog of common-sense thinking that comes with a PJ Media VIP membership. You’ll get access to content you didn’t even know you wanted, and you’ll be hooked. The good news is, PJ Media VIP memberships are on sale! Get 60% off an annual VIP, VIP Gold, or VIP Platinum membership! Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off a VIP membership!