Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny after revelations that his half-sister, a radical University of Chicago academic, has openly championed a stateless, communized society, praised the October 7 Hamas massacre, demanded the abolition of police, and urged a student intifada on American campuses.
According to The Post Millennial, El-Sayed, who is vying to become Michigans next US senator, recently released a campaign advertisement emphasizing his familys deep Michigan roots and blue-collar story. Notably absent from that polished narrative was his maternal half-sister, University of Chicago professor and activist Eman Abdelhadi, who has embraced hard-left politics and taken part in a series of militant demonstrations.
Abdelhadis activism has not been confined to the classroom or social media, but has spilled into confrontations with law enforcement. She was arrested in October 2025 after a protest at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago, where prosecutors alleged that she knowingly and intentionally spit on an Illinois state trooper, leading to a felony aggravated battery charge.
Her own words reveal a calculated effort to leverage elite institutions for radical ends, even as she denounces them. At Socialism 2025, Abdelhadi described the University of Chicago as a vehicle for building political power, declaring, F*ck the University of Chicago... but its my best shot at power, and branding her employer an evil colonial landlord.
She elaborated on that strategy by underscoring the organizing potential she sees within the universitys workforce and student body. We dont have power... but I work at one of the biggest employers in Chicago... a place with thousands of people I could potentially organize... This is where I need to build power, she said, outlining a vision that treats a major private institution as a platform for revolutionary agitation.
Those remarks came as the university began examining her increasingly incendiary rhetoric about the school itself. Administrators announced an investigation into her conduct after she publicly condemned the institution as a colonial landlord and police force, adding, like, f*ck the University of Chicago, its evil. Like, you know?
Abdelhadis ideological commitments are further reflected in her literary work, which imagines the dismantling of core American institutions. She coauthored Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, a fictional narrative depicting the collapse of capitalism and the rise of a new communist order in which police are abolished, the nuclear family is replaced by communal caretaking, and Israel is wiped out following what the novel calls a Final Intifada.
She has been explicit about the revolutionary ambitions behind that project, boasting on social media about her desire to move beyond free markets and private property. I wrote an entire novel about transitioning out of capitalism to a stateless, communized society, Abdelhadi wrote on X in 2024, later adding, Im over capitalism, over wage slavery. Over it.
Her extremism has been most disturbing in the context of the IsraelHamas war, where she openly celebrated the October 7, 2023 terrorist atrocities. On the morning of the attacks, she posted, Good morning, freedom, and later shared a video wrapped in a keffiyeh that began, I wanna start by saying Allahu Akbar, language that many Americans associate with jihadist propaganda rather than peaceful protest.
In the days that followed, Abdelhadi escalated her rhetoric by calling for unrest on US campuses in solidarity with Hamass cause. She urged a student intifada in the United States, writing, Let Palestine break this country wide open. Long live the student intifada, a statement that appears to welcome domestic upheaval as a tool against what she calls US empire.
Her social media posts also targeted prominent Democrats who condemned the Hamas atrocities, revealing a worldview even further left than the partys progressive wing. On the morning of Oct. 7, Abdelhadi lashed out at Sen. Bernie Sanders after he called the attack horrifying, responding, What a disappointment. If you can't stand with a ppl that have been held in an open prison for 16 years finally fighting their oppressors, how can you claim to stand for justice?
On core policy questions, Abdelhadis radicalism often overlaps with, and then exceeds, El-Sayeds own progressive positions, raising questions about the ideological environment surrounding his campaign. During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, El-Sayed declared, We do need to defund the police, while Abdelhadi went further, calling for outright police abolition, including on college campuses, and posting, Good morning, jummuah mubarak and f*ck the police.
El-Sayed has also aligned himself with the Democratic Partys anti-Israel faction, participating in Michigans uncommitted movement to protest President Joe Bidens support for Israels self-defense. He encouraged Democrats to vote against Biden in the 2024 primary over what he labeled Bidens disaster in Gaza, a stance that dovetails with his half-sisters broader denunciations of American power.
Abdelhadis contempt for American traditions extends beyond foreign policy and policing to the nations civic holidays and founding ideals. She has said that she hopes the whole world rises against US empire and has publicly denounced both Thanksgiving and Independence Day, positions that place her firmly at odds with the patriotic values many Michigan voters still hold.
Despite her hostility toward the United States and its institutions, Abdelhadi has warmly embraced her brothers political ambitions while foregrounding her own identity politics. Abdelhadi, who has publicly identified in videos as a Palestinian, celebrated El-Sayeds Senate campaign launch online, calling herself a proud little sister, a reminder that behind the candidates carefully crafted image lies a family network steeped in radical, anti-American ideology that Michigan voters may not be eager to endorse.
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