Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed built his campaign on a promise to get money out of politics, but federal records reveal more than $115,000 in donations from dozens of individuals tied to a group that federal prosecutors once linked to Hamas.
El-Sayed, who defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary on Tuesday night, collected contributions from at least 41 people who work for, formerly worked for, or held leadership roles with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Fox News Digital reported after reviewing Federal Election Commission filings. The donors span CAIR's national leadership and chapter offices in at least ten states, from Michigan and California to Texas, Arizona, Georgia, and beyond.
The money trail raises pointed questions for a candidate who now heads into a November general election against Republican Mike Rogers, and who has made clean-government rhetoric a centerpiece of his pitch to Michigan voters.
The FEC records identify donors at every level of CAIR's organizational chart. Manal Fakhoury, the group's national board chair, contributed. So did national board treasurer Eyas Abdeen and national vice chair Emad Sabbah. Former national board chair Roula Allouch also donated.
The list extends to state chapters. CAIR-California governance board chair Asaad Traina, board treasurer Rubina Alvi, and board members Atef Ibrahim and Dina Ezzeddine all gave money. CAIR-Michigan board member Muzammil Ahmed contributed $11,600, one of the larger individual totals in the filings.
Then there is Jukaku Tayeb, a CAIR-Michigan board member who is also El-Sayed's father-in-law. The Washington Free Beacon first reported that Tayeb ranks among the largest financial backers of the super PAC supporting El-Sayed's campaign. Tayeb is also part of the founding committee of the Islamic Society of North America, which the Free Beacon has described as a group linked to Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood funding.
CAIR's executive director, Nihad Awad, donated as well. Fox News Digital's review found Awad listed in FEC records under the name "Nehad Hammad." The article does not explain how the identification was confirmed.
Awad's donation draws particular scrutiny because of his own public record. After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Awad said publicly that he was "happy" to see Hamas break out of Gaza. He also argued that Israel "does not have the right to self-defense" as an occupying power.
Weeks later, on December 22, 2023, Awad authored an editorial in Religion News Service in which he said he agreed with CAIR's condemnation of attacks on civilians. The gap between expressing happiness at an attack that killed more than a thousand people and then claiming to condemn violence against civilians is one Awad has never publicly reconciled.
CAIR itself has tried to put distance between the organization and terrorism allegations. In response to Fox News Digital, the group pointed to its "Dispelling Rumors About CAIR" webpage and a memorandum stating it has "repeatedly condemned antisemitism throughout our 30 years of existence." CAIR also cited a 2009 statement:
"We unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa'ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization.'"
A CAIR National Board letter, published in April 2025, condemned antisemitism and the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks specifically.
CAIR's denials run headlong into a long official record. In 2007, federal prosecutors named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, described as the largest terrorism financing prosecution in U.S. history. Prosecutors argued that CAIR was part of a network created to support Hamas in the United States.
CAIR was never charged with a crime. But the unindicted co-conspirator designation has shadowed the organization for nearly two decades.
Foreign governments have gone further. The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014. Domestically, both Florida and Texas have formally designated or labeled CAIR a terrorist organization, though the specific legal authority and dates of those state-level actions are not detailed in available reporting.
That is the organization whose officials, board members, and affiliates funneled more than $115,000 into El-Sayed's Senate campaign, from coast to coast.
The financial connections are not the only thread linking El-Sayed to CAIR. In 2022, El-Sayed appeared at a CAIR event and was paid for a speaking engagement. At that event, he criticized Oklahoma's ban on Sharia law and compared it to the Trail of Tears, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed also drew criticism for his response to a Detroit synagogue attack and for declining to make certain public statements when constituents in Dearborn mourned the death of Iran's supreme leader. The details of those episodes are referenced but not fully laid out in available reporting.
The day before his primary victory, El-Sayed campaigned alongside Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer. He celebrated his win at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit on the night of August 5, 2026.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign for comment. No response was included in the reporting.
El-Sayed has made getting money out of politics a central rallying cry. The FEC records tell a different story: a coordinated donation pattern from officials of a single organization, spread across Michigan, California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and other states.
Whether 41 donors from one organization constitutes the kind of influence El-Sayed claims to oppose is a question his campaign has so far declined to answer. The donations are legal. The pattern is unmistakable. And the organization behind them carries a federal co-conspirator label, a UAE terrorist designation, and a leadership record that includes public expressions of support for Hamas.
Now El-Sayed carries all of that into a general election against Mike Rogers. Michigan voters will decide whether a candidate who promises clean government while accepting six figures from CAIR's leadership ranks deserves a Senate seat, or an explanation.
When the slogan is "get money out of politics," the first question voters should ask is whose money is already in.
