Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is drawing ridicule after a bizarre research paper from his medical school days resurfaced. The project examined mating across ethnic lines, with particular attention given to Arab mothers and their reported birth outcomes.

J.D. Haltigan, PhD, uncovered the research project that El-Sayed conducted while attending medical school at Columbia University. Haltigan is identified as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Heterodox Center and a developmental psychopathologist.

When El-Sayed isn’t researching “interethnic mating” and finding it harmful, his work is standard woke science. In this paper, he proposes that anti-Arab discrimination causes Arab-Americans to die early.

Ridiculous. https://t.co/eOZal3uyvV — J.D. Haltigan, PhD ‍ (@JDHaltigan) October 16, 2026

El-Sayed conducted the research in 2011. The paper has now become a political headache as critics pore over its language, subject matter, and conclusions.

The paper discusses what it calls “interethnic mating,” focusing especially on Arab mothers who had children with men outside their ethnic group. Its framing was enough to prompt immediate mockery once the old project came to public attention.

Abdul El-Sayed used to publish race science papers about the dangers of Arab women “mating” outside the Arab race

So fucking strange https://t.co/rvOifu2Vaw — Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) October 16, 2026

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According to the reported findings, El-Sayed concluded that Arab mothers who participated in interethnic mating experienced worse birth outcomes than Arab mothers who mated with Arab men.

The only possible reason to do such a “study” which is hardly scientific or rigorous, and would be rejected by any truly serious publication, is to argue against Arab women intermarrying. GUESS why one would make such an argument? SHARIA tenets!! NO INTERMARRIAGE!! El-Sayed is trying to make a “scientific” argument to keep Arab women”pure” and exile the non-believers. This is as bad as Shockley’s “science” in the 60s/70s. Pure racism. He should not get anywhere NEAR public office. He’s a shadow fanatic operating to destroy us from within.

— MikeONYC (@MikeONYK) October 16, 2026

The research also included El-Sayed’s findings involving genetics and the Black race.

The combination of ethnic mating, genetics, race, and birth outcomes quickly gave critics plenty of material.

The strange project “probably helps explain why he never got his doctor’s license.” That was presented as commentary about El-Sayed and the paper, not as a finding contained within the research.

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Americans responded by roasting El-Sayed over the unearthed project. The criticism centered on the paper’s focus and on the implications critics saw in research separating mothers and birth outcomes by ethnicity.

The controversy then drew a pointed response from Joanna Rodriguez, the Communications Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Rodriguez weighed in with a statement delivered to The Post Millennial.

“It’s ironic that a radical Muslim with documented ties to designated terrorist organizations is scared of interracial mating,” Rodriguez said. Her statement directly connected the paper’s focus on interethnic mating to a broader political attack against El-Sayed.

Rodriguez then challenged the Michigan Democratic Senate candidate to address the research and its implications. “Does Abdul El-Sayed stand by his racist fearmongering?” she asked.

No wonder he was so nasty to Usha Vance.

The very concept of brown women marrying white men infuriates him. — Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) October 16, 2026

Her remarks sharply escalated the criticism surrounding the old paper. Rodriguez did not treat the project as a harmless academic exercise, instead describing its treatment of interracial mating as racist fearmongering.

The controversy, as presented, rests on the paper’s unusual research focus, El-Sayed’s reported conclusions about Arab mothers, and its additional discussion of genetics and the Black race. Those details became the core of the backlash after Haltigan uncovered the project.

What is included is plenty to fuel a politically damaging round of mockery. A Democratic Senate candidate now has critics examining a 2011 medical school project that categorized mating and birth outcomes through an ethnic lens.

For El-Sayed, the resurfaced research has turned an old academic project into fresh political ammunition. Rodriguez’s response ensured the paper would not remain confined to an obscure medical school archive, and the public roasting showed how quickly unusual academic work can become campaign fodder.

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