JD Vance’s Mother Says She’d ‘Probably Punch’ Abdul El-Sayed Over Family Remarks

Vice President JD Vance’s mother says she would “probably punch” the Michigan Senate candidate who joked about her grandchildren’s skin color and her son’s marriage.

Story Snapshot

Beverly Vance Aikins, JD Vance’s mother, says Abdul El-Sayed’s comments about her family made her angry.
El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, joked in April that Vance’s kids are “brown kids” who are “less American than everyone else.”
Vice President Vance publicly called El-Sayed “evil” and warned him to keep Usha Vance’s name “out of your mouth.”
El-Sayed says his remarks were political criticism of Vance’s views on who counts as American, not a personal attack.

Grandmother Fires Back at Senate Candidate

Beverly Vance Aikins spoke out this week after months of comments from Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about her son’s family. She told Fox News host Tomi Lahren the remarks made her angry because El-Sayed “doesn’t know JD” and doesn’t know “what type of person he is.” She called El-Sayed an “idiot” and said, “Those are my babies.”

Aikins defended her daughter-in-law directly, saying Usha Vance is part of her family “as if she were my own daughter.” She dismissed El-Sayed’s attacks as coming from jealousy, not real criticism. “He’s got a beautiful wife, four beautiful children,” she said of her son, adding that the jabs would carry “no merit from any of us”.

What El-Sayed Actually Said

The fight traces back to an April podcast appearance where El-Sayed made jokes about Usha Vance and the couple’s children. He said JD Vance “has brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else,” a line that outlets across the political spectrum flagged as racially charged. He also joked about whether Vance would “take Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw,” a reference many saw as targeting her Indian heritage.

El-Sayed later defended himself, saying his goal was to expose what he calls Vance’s exclusionary politics. He argued Vance “believes in a political philosophy that says that some people are somehow more American than others,” framing his remarks as fair political debate rather than a personal attack on the Vance children.

Vance Responds With Sharp Warning

Vice President Vance did not stay quiet. Campaigning in Michigan for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, he told a crowd there is “something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil,” tying the comment to El-Sayed’s past statements and associations rather than the family jokes alone.

Vance then turned directly to the Usha Vance comments, telling El-Sayed, “Keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth because she’s way out of your league.” The line quickly spread online and became the centerpiece of coverage on both sides of the aisle.

El-Sayed under fire online after taking aim at Usha Vance, female Trump aide in weekend social media posts https://t.co/qMHyWpVRD4 #FoxNews

— House Frau (@HouseFrau3) September 1, 2026

A Family Fight in a High-Stakes Race

The clash lands in the middle of one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races. Michigan’s contest could help decide control of the chamber, and both parties have leaned hard into personal attacks instead of policy debates in recent weeks. Analysts who track election-year messaging say family-focused jabs tend to spread faster than substantive arguments, especially in swing states.

Republicans have pointed to El-Sayed’s comments as proof of a double standard, arguing Democrats would cry foul if a GOP candidate made similar jokes about a rival’s biracial children. Democrats counter that Vance’s own rhetoric about American identity invites scrutiny. Voters are left watching two campaigns argue about who started the personal attacks instead of what either would do in office.

For many Americans already frustrated with Washington, the spat reinforces a familiar complaint: candidates spend more energy scoring points against each other’s families than addressing the economic and social problems voters say matter most. Whether the exchange shifts the Michigan race remains unclear, but it has already dominated the campaign’s final stretch heading into the fall.