TROY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Republican leaders and prominent members of the state’s Indian American community gathered in Troy Friday with a fairly straightforward message for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed: If you have a problem with Vice President JD Vance, take it up with him – and leave his wife and children out of it.
The 11 a.m. press conference at the Michigan Republican Party’s Troy office brought together MIGOP Co-Chair and Wayne State University Board of Governors member Sunny Reddy Sunny Reddy, RNC National Committeewoman Hima Kolanagireddy, MIGOP Youth Chair Krish Mathrani, 56th District state House candidate Ashok Baddi, and Indian American neurologist Dr. Haranath Policherla.
MIGOP Communications Director Ted Goodman said the group was there to condemn what party leaders characterized as El-Sayed’s “inappropriate, misogynistic” and potentially racist remarks involving Second Lady Usha Vance.
The timing also comes just days before Vice President Vance heads to Sterling Heights Monday for an event supporting Michigan Republicans, including Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who is running against El-Sayed, and gubernatorial nominee John James.
‘Why Usha?’
The latest controversy began after Vance criticized El-Sayed’s previous comments linking criticism of Sharia law to white supremacy. Vance invoked his late grandfather, whom he called “Papaw,” saying El-Sayed’s politics would have been foreign to the Democratic Party his grandfather knew. He said, “I’d love to go back in time and tell my papaw that there’s a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it, you’re a white supremacist. That’s not my papaw’s Democrat Party, my friends.”
El-Sayed responded on social media by saying, “So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…”
So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no… https://t.co/JApcsCW4kU
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 22, 2026
Critics interpreted the post as a reference to Usha Vance’s Indian heritage and an insinuation that Vance’s white Appalachian family would not have accepted her. El-Sayed later argued on the left- leaning cable news network MS NOW that Vance was suggesting some Americans are more American than others based on how long their families have been in the country.
Usha Vance herself appeared less rattled than the Republicans assembled in Troy. She told Fox News she “kind of laughed” at the remark and said members of her husband’s family had always treated her with love.
MORE NEWS: Vance Heads to Michigan to Rally GOP Candidates
Sunny Reddy, however, said at the press conference on Friday that this newest controversy involving El-Sayed is part of a larger pattern.
“This is no longer political disagreement,” Reddy said. “This is a pattern of personal, racial and misogynistic attacks on an Indian American woman, her marriage, her pregnancy and her children.” Reddy pointed to previous comments in which El-Sayed referred to the Vances’ children as “brown kids,” discussed Usha Vance’s pregnancy and marriage, and then once again brought her into his dispute with the vice president.
Reddy’s advice to El-Sayed was simple: “Debate him (JD Vance) on immigration, debate him on the economy, debate him on foreign policy,” Reddy said. “But leave his wife and children out of it.”
“Michigan deserves better,” he added. “Our community deserves better.”
Indian American Leaders Push Back
Hima Kolanagireddy said she took the remarks personally as an Indian American woman.
“You have disagreements with JD Vance, fine, go attack him,” she said. “But you cannot try to reach him through his wife.”
Reddy called El-Sayed’s comments “racist, misogynistic and very derogatory” and demanded an apology to the second lady.
Baddi, who is running for the state House district that includes Troy, said Usha Vance’s family background made the controversy especially personal for Indian American and Hindu-American Michiganders.
“I stand with my sister Usha Vance,” Baddi said. “Enough is enough.”
Policherla similarly described Usha Vance as being “like my sister” because of their shared Telugu heritage and said political attacks should not extend to a candidate’s family.
“Her marriage should not be mocked, and most importantly, leave the children alone,” he said. “Our children should never be reduced to the color of their skin for somebody else’s political arguments.”
Piker Gets Pulled Into the Fight, Too
Republicans also used the press conference to demand that El-Sayed publicly condemn left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who supported him during the Democratic primary and previously said “America deserved 9/11.” Although El-Sayed has said the remarks were stupid, he hasn’t condemned Piker himself.
Kolanagireddy argued El-Sayed cannot campaign with Piker during the primary and then minimize that relationship in the general election. “No, he was a major part of your campaign,” she said.
With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, MIGOP Communications Director Ted Goodman said El-Sayed must condemn Piker’s remark “in the strongest possible terms.”
‘Once a Phony, Always a Phony’
The press conference also veered into another sore spot for Republicans: El-Sayed’s use of the title “Dr.” Asked about El-Sayed’s medical background, Dr. Policherla noted that El-Sayed attended medical school but is not a practicing physician, saying, “He is not a doctor. He has a doctor’s degree,” before distinguishing that from being licensed to practice medicine.
Kolanagireddy said about El-Sayed, “Once a phony, always a phony. So his entire campaign is phony.”
From there, she pivoted from attacking El-Sayed’s credentials and campaign to defending the Republican Party’s own record on diversity, pointing to the Indian American leaders standing alongside her. “The fact that we have three people in the leadership from [the] Indian American community should tell you that Republicans embrace minorities,” she said. “It’s not what community you come from or the color of your skin, but the content of your character that we care about.”
With Vance arriving in Michigan Monday to campaign for the Republican ticket, the controversy is unlikely to disappear before he gets here. But the Indian American Republicans gathered in Troy said their message to El-Sayed was bigger than the latest political fight: Go after the vice president all you want, but spouses and children should be off limits – regardless of their race, heritage or political party.
