据报道，那名试图用有关所谓效忠穆斯林兄弟会的刁难问题来套取民主党参议员候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德把柄却未能得逞的男子，是一名共和党策略师的儿子；这名策略师上个月收到了25万美元，用于开展反对埃尔-赛义德的竞选活动。
The guy who tried and failed to catch Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed with a gotcha question about his supposed loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood is reportedly the son of a Republican strategist who received $250,000 last month to campaign against El-Sayed.
在这场如今已在网络上疯传的五分钟对峙中，这名年轻人——Handbasket网站首先确认他是托马斯·“汤米”·蒂佩尔——问埃尔-赛义德是否会“断绝”与穆斯林兄弟会的关系。尽管包括总统唐纳德·特朗普在内的共和党人发表了伊斯兰恐惧症式的说法，但没有证据表明这名候选人与该组织有任何关联。埃尔-赛义德回答说：“当然，是的，绝对会。”随后，他给汤米上了一堂公民课，讲解宪法保障的宗教自由。
In the five-minute confrontation that has now gone viral, the young man, who the Handbasket first identified as Thomas “Tommy” Teepell, asked El-Sayed if he would “disavow” the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite Islamophobic claims from Republicans like President Donald Trump, there is no evidence that the candidate has any ties to the group. El-Sayed answered, “Sure, yeah, absolutely,” and then proceeded to give Tommy a lesson on civics and the constitutional freedom of religion.
汤米的父亲蒂米·蒂佩尔曾担任前国会议员、前路易斯安那州州长博比·金达尔的策略师，后来又在参议员乔什·霍利（共和党-密苏里州）当选的过程中发挥了关键作用。周二，该报援引其向联邦选举委员会提交的文件报道称，金达尔于2013年为帮助共和党候选人而创办的501(c)(4)非营利组织“美国下一步”向蒂米·蒂佩尔的公司“突破有限责任公司”支付了25万美元，用于开展反对埃尔-赛义德的“拉票和网红营销”。
Tommy’s father, Timmy Teepell, worked as a strategist for former congressman and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and later played a key role in getting Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) into office. On Tuesday, reported that America Next, a 501(c)(4) non-profit Bobby Jindal started in 2013 to help Republican candidates, gave Timmy Teepell’s firm, Breakthrough LLC, $250,000 for “canvassing and influencer marketing” opposing El-Sayed, citing its FEC filing.
该报还报道称，这笔用于反对埃尔-赛义德的付款是“美国下一步”自2015年以来唯一报告过的支出；2015年，该组织曾出资制作电视广告，支持金达尔竞选共和党总统候选人提名但以失败告终。
The paper also reported that the payment against El-Sayed is America Next’s only reported expenditure since 2015, when it paid for television ads supporting Jindal’s failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
据报道，“美国下一步”一直试图为这名密歇根州候选人制造负面新闻。本月早些时候，密歇根大学的独立学生报纸《密歇根每日报》查阅了该校大学共和党人组织的GroupMe群聊信息，其中一名成员说，“美国下一步”联系了他和一位朋友，提出给他们每人200美元，让他们前往埃尔-赛义德10月3日在弗林特举行的市政厅活动。他们本应向他喝倒彩并提出刁钻的问题。
America Next has reportedly been trying to manufacture negative press for the Michigan candidate. Earlier this month, , the University of Michigan’s independent student newspaper, reviewed the school’s College Republicans’ GroupMe chat messages in which a member said America Next reached out to him and a friend, offering $200 each to travel to El-Sayed’s October 3 town hall in Flint. They were supposed to boo him and ask difficult questions.
“带上你的朋友，”据报道，该学生、高年级学生伊曼·达什蒂写道。“带上你的女朋友。你们两人可以在短短的2.5小时内赚到400美元，带她去个好地方。”上个月，达什蒂在密歇根大学的一次市政厅会议上问埃尔-赛义德，他是否“明确反对”伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队。“埃尔-赛义德回应说，他将‘永远支持争取自由和民主的运动’，但他希望这些运动来自伊朗人民，而不是通过美国干预。据报道，他在呼吁其他共和党学院成员时声称，他的问题“给他带来了非常负面的新闻周期”。联邦选举委员会（FEC）的申报文件并未显示，年轻的托马斯·蒂佩尔（Thomas Teepell）——他曾担任霍利办公室的运营总监，以及菲利普·萨内基（Philip Sarnecki）2026年竞选堪萨斯州州长失败的竞选活动的主管——从他父亲的Breakthrough LLC或America Next公司获得报酬。
“Bring your friends,” the student, senior Iman Dashti, reportedly wrote. “Bring your girlfriend. Take her out somewhere nice with the $400 you two will make in literally 2.5 hours.”Last month, Dashti asked El-Sayed at a University of Michigan town hall if he stood “unequivocally against” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”El-Sayed responded that he would “always stand with movements for freedom and democracy” but wanted those movements to come from Iranians, not through US intervention. According to , in his callout to other College Republicans, he claimed his question “generated a VERY negative news cycle for him.”FEC filings do not show that the younger Thomas Teepell, who served as an operations director at Hawley’s office and political director for Philip Sarnecki’s failed 2026 Kansas governor campaign, was paid by his father’s Breakthrough LLC or America Next.
根据对密歇根州美国参议员竞选的民意调查汇总显示，截至周三，埃尔-赛义德似乎在共和党对手迈克·罗杰斯（Mike Rogers）之上略占优势。
According to ’ collection of polls on the Michigan US Senate race, as of Wednesday, El-Sayed appears to have a slight lead over his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.