Pete Buttigieg Tells Fox News Host Antisemitism Is a Problem on the Left, Too

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a Fox News interview that antisemitism is a problem on the left as well as the right. Lawrence Jones, a Fox News host, had pressed him on Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.

El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in a race that could help decide control of the Senate. He has faced criticism over an outside ad backing him that critics called antisemitic. Buttigieg is one of the best-known figures in his party: he stands third in PolitiKool's polling average of the 2028 Democratic field at 10.7 percent.

What Pete Buttigieg Said About Antisemitism

Jones said he had spoken with Black and Jewish voters in Michigan who shared one worry. He said a Black Democrat in a barbershop asked him whether "Mr. El-Sayed gonna serve Dearborn or is he gonna serve all of Michigan?"

Buttigieg started with the issue his party has campaigned on. "Look, I think that the number one concern that I hear from voters is about the affordability and cost of living," he said. "But yeah, rising anti-Semitism is a huge concern."

Next he credited Jones and his co-host for "pointing out earlier in this program that anti-Semitism is a problem on the far right." Then came the concession.

"We've also seen problems with anti-Semitism on the left and anywhere we see it, we need to stand up to it. We need to stamp it out." — Pete Buttigieg

He did not name El-Sayed in that answer, and he did not criticize him. He quickly turned to Republicans, saying he was "a little skeptical" of the claim by Mike Collins, a Republican running for Senate in Georgia, that he rejects antisemitism. "But look, every candidate left, right and center should be condemning it," Buttigieg said.

Lawrence Jones Raises the Rebellion PAC Ad

Jones did not accept the answer. "Mr. Secretary, I can't approach this conversation in good faith after we just had an anti-Semitic campaign ad by Hasan Piker's uncle ran for your candidate," he said. Jones added that this was "the whole point why you lost Mrs. Stevens" — a reference to Representative Haley Stevens, the Michigan Democrat El-Sayed beat in the primary.

The ad came from Rebellion PAC, the left-wing group founded by Cenk Uygur, a co-founder of The Young Turks. PolitiFact reported that the digital spot shows a couple in a grocery store saying they must "set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians." It ends by contrasting El-Sayed with Rogers, whom it ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The PAC spent $1,000 on the spot, which ran mainly online. Uygur is the uncle of the streamer Hasan Piker, Mediaite reported.

The El-Sayed campaign said the ad "is not affiliated in any way" with it, Mediaite reported. Stevens wrote on X that the ad "did not invent its argument, it dramatized one Dr. El-Sayed has made in his own words throughout this campaign," and urged him to condemn it. El-Sayed replied on X that Stevens "seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago." At a campaign event in Sterling Heights on Saturday, he said, "I've already made it clear that that ad was not made by me, and I do not agree with the contents of that ad," Spectrum News reported.

Buttigieg's account was close to that record. "Abdul rejected that ad. It's that simple. He didn't produce it," he said. "And when he was asked about the contents of it, he rejected it."

Buttigieg Turns to Mike Rogers

Next Buttigieg moved to El-Sayed's opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers. He said El-Sayed's own ads, which run "even when you're just trying to watch a football game in Michigan," focus on how Rogers "voted to cancel the Affordable Care Act." He also tied Rogers to President Donald Trump's policies.

Affordability has been central to the Democratic argument this year. PolitiKool's polling average puts approval of Trump's handling of the economy at 29.6 percent. The national average for regular gas is $4.27 a gallon.

Michigan Senate Race Polling

In August, El-Sayed beat Stevens by about 15,000 votes, WLOX reported. El-Sayed said he won despite "$70 million of outside spending."

El-Sayed leads Rogers 50.2 percent to 45 percent in PolitiKool's polling average, a margin of 5.2 points.

What To Watch For Next

The polls close in Michigan on Tuesday night. The open question is whether the dispute over the ad, and over how firmly El-Sayed has distanced himself from it, costs him votes in a race Democrats see as essential to winning the Senate. Control of the chamber is a toss-up in PolitiKool's Senate forecast.