Abdul El-Sayed shares dozens of donors with ex-GOP candidate at center of antisemitism controversy
Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shares nearly two dozen donors with former Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian, who is best known for antisemitic attacks he made against Rep Randy Fine during a primary campaign. Although El-Sayed and Bilzerian sit at opposite ends of the political spectrum on most issues, both have criticised US support for Israel and called for an end to American aid to the country, which appears to have attracted an overlapping pool of donors.
According to a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings, the shared donors have given more than $61,000 combined to the two campaigns, with roughly $23,144 going to Bilzerian and about $38,626 to El-Sayed. Among the shared donors is Georgia attorney Ibrahim Awad, who has accused Israel of committing a "Holocaust" in Gaza and has described Zionism as rooted in "supremacy"; he donated over $12,600 via a joint fundraising committee to Bilzerian's campaign and $7,000 to El-Sayed's campaign weeks earlier. Bilzerian, who lost his primary to Fine, drew widespread Republican condemnation for an AI-generated campaign ad attacking Fine's Jewish identity, while El-Sayed has faced separate criticism over his ties to commentator Hasan Piker.
- El-Sayed and Bilzerian share about $61,000 in overlapping campaign donors
- Both candidates oppose US aid to Israel despite differing politics otherwise
- Shared donor Ibrahim Awad has made controversial remarks about Israel and Zionism
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Michigan's US Senate race features Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate, whose campaign finance records have been compared with those of Dan Bilzerian, a former Republican congressional candidate who ran against Rep Randy Fine. Bilzerian lost that primary but attracted attention for making antisemitic attacks on Fine during the campaign. The two men disagree on most political issues, but analysis of donation records shows a small overlap in the people who have given money to each of them.
The connection between the two campaigns centres on their shared opposition to US support for Israel, a position that appears to explain why some of the same donors have backed both El-Sayed and Bilzerian despite their otherwise opposing politics. Federal Election Commission filings are used to track political donations in the US, and reviews of these records can reveal patterns such as shared donor bases between candidates who might not otherwise be linked.
Both candidates have separately faced scrutiny over associations tied to debates about Israel and antisemitism, El-Sayed over his links to commentator Hasan Piker, and Bilzerian over his campaign conduct. This overlap in donors has drawn renewed attention because it touches on wider, ongoing debates within American politics about Israel policy and how antisemitism is defined and addressed by candidates across the political spectrum.