Michigan Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett is criticizing U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and the socialist wing of her own party, arguing that Black voters are too often treated as a political monolith and urging her community to reconsider its support for far-left candidates, as reported by Fox News.
Whitsett, who is not seeking re-election and plans to retire when her term expires at the end of the year, made the comments in an interview with Fox News Digital published September 9, 2026.
“It doesn’t change; it’s just different slave owners,” Whitsett said when discussing Democratic Party leaders whom she believes expect Black voters to support left-wing candidates automatically.
Whitsett said she does not believe El-Sayed’s positions align with the interests of Black Michiganders.
She also sharply criticized the growing socialist faction within the Democratic Party, saying some members of the movement are “more racist than the KKK.”
The Michigan lawmaker specifically named Al Sharpton and Detroit pastor Horace Sheffield III, an El-Sayed campaign surrogate, among prominent Black figures she believes help direct the community’s vote toward Democratic candidates. She accused them of working to “keep the knee on [Black voters’] neck.”
According to Whitsett, however, some voters are beginning to question the longstanding political expectations surrounding their support.
She said Black voters are “waking up” and “realizing the power of our vote.”
“You can see the serious divide of the crazy socialist far-left and especially the White women,” Whitsett said.
“They are the worst and the most racist that there possibly ever could be. They’re, I think, they’re more racist than the KKK.”
Whitsett also questioned whether political activists are genuinely focused on helping Black communities or simply attempting to maintain influence over their votes.
“Are you trying to help the Black community or are you trying to kill it?” she rhetorically asked.
“Are you trying to keep people stupid and ill-informed or what? Because right now I can’t tell, right? Is this voter education, or are you just trying to make sure you count your slaves on the plantation?”
Whitsett said her priorities extend beyond advancing within the Democratic Party.
“I’m going to stand on Bible first, and I’m going to stand on community first,” she said. I don’t care about moving up within the Democratic Party. I don’t care about making sure my pockets are better.”
She also described herself as unwilling to simply follow the party line.
“I always try to be a voice of reason, and I’m not a go-along, get-along. So, my whole thing is it has to make sense, and I am definitely family over party. God over party is of the utmost importance,” she said.
Whitsett argued that El-Sayed’s candidacy does not align with her religious beliefs or her understanding of what voters need.
“So for me, when you point that out to people, it’s just common sense that to people, that’s just common sense that El-Sayed is not the candidate,” she continued.
“There’s just no way. It doesn’t line up. It doesn’t line up Biblically, and it doesn’t line up with common sense.”
One issue Whitsett raised was El-Sayed’s support for Medicare for All. While saying she believes everyone should have medical insurance, she questioned how the proposed system would work and how it would affect patients and the healthcare system.
“This Medicare for All, it’s not for all. It’s not going to change the dynamics of how many doctors there are, or nurses or blood draws or anything else. You’re now going to put the government in your health system, and they’re going to decide for you.”
El-Sayed has also faced scrutiny over his association with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has appeared alongside him on the campaign trail.
El-Sayed has declined to condemn Piker, describing him as a “streamer from California” who does not determine the outcome of the Michigan race, despite inviting him to campaign in the state.
Jewish Democrats in Michigan have also expressed opposition to El-Sayed.
In an open letter, some said they felt “threatened and alienated by the politics and allies embraced by Abdul El-Sayed, which has included demonization of Jews, equivocation on terrorism, exclusion of Jewish Americans from public life, and expression of implacable hatred of the world’s only Jewish nation.”
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Whitsett’s criticism of him and the Democratic Party’s shift to the left.
Whitsett’s comments come as Michigan’s 2026 Senate race continues to draw attention to divisions within the Democratic Party over the growing influence of its progressive and socialist wings.
