Michigan Senate Candidate El-Sayed to Attend Fundraiser Hosted by Lawyer Who Honored Nazi Wehrmacht Grandfather
The far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is barreling forward with a campaign fundraiser co-hosted by a Democratic lawyer who publicly celebrated her grandfather’s service in Hitler’s military forces—a scandal that should disqualify any serious political operation from association.
Kelly Neumann, a well-connected Democratic fundraiser in Michigan’s political machine, is opening her doors and donor network to El-Sayed as he battles U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens for the Democratic Senate nomination. This is the same Kelly Neumann who sparked outrage in 2024 when she used Veterans’ Day—a sacred day honoring American heroes—to praise her grandfather’s military service for Nazi Germany.
A Veterans’ Day Disgrace
The controversial Facebook post laid bare Neumann’s shocking family history and her willingness to whitewash it.
“Interesting story, I do not talk much about, but my Grandfather, Albert Neumann, was on the German side in WWI & WWII,” she wrote in the now-deleted 2024 post. She went on to reveal that her grandfather “escaped to Brazil with my Father after Germany lost in WWII”—language that glosses over the Nazi regime’s defeat and the liberation of Europe.
The word “escaped” is particularly telling. Escaped from what? Justice? Accountability? War crimes tribunals?
The Wehrmacht Myth Exposed
Neumann later attempted damage control by claiming her grandfather was merely a “German soldier, not a Nazi.” This is a distinction without a difference—a tired revisionist argument that serious historians have thoroughly debunked.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has definitively established that the German Wehrmacht—the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany—was deeply complicit in Nazi atrocities and the Holocaust. The notion that one could serve in Hitler’s military without serving the Nazi regime is historical fiction designed to absolve guilt.
German soldiers didn’t just follow orders. They participated in genocide. They enabled the Final Solution. They fought to expand Hitler’s lebensraum across Europe.
Too Little, Too Late
After the predictable backlash, Neumann scrubbed the post from social media. When the controversy resurfaced earlier this year, she issued what can only be described as a non-apology apology.
Rather than taking full responsibility, Neumann blamed Stevens’ campaign for “digging up” her own public statements—as if holding someone accountable for their words constitutes dirty politics. She painted herself as the victim, emphasizing that her grandfather “accepted me as gay when I was nervous and scared.”
Personal acceptance doesn’t erase historical complicity. Millions of Jewish families never had the opportunity to rebuild their lives because of the regime Albert Neumann served.
The El-Sayed Campaign’s Moral Vacuum
The real scandal here is El-Sayed’s willingness to take Neumann’s money and support despite this radioactive history.
When confronted, El-Sayed’s campaign offered the political equivalent of a shrug. Their spokesperson noted that Neumann has donated to “several democratic senators, congresspeople, statewide elected officials and candidates, including Abdul’s opponent, Congresswoman Stevens.”
In other words: everyone else does it, so why shouldn’t we?
This is moral relativism at its worst. The fact that other Democrats have been willing to overlook Neumann’s Nazi-sympathizing post doesn’t make it acceptable—it makes the entire Michigan Democratic establishment complicit in minimizing one of history’s greatest evils.
The Broader Pattern
This fundraiser fits a disturbing pattern with El-Sayed, who has already drawn scrutiny for his far-left positions and controversial associations. He’s backed by Elizabeth Warren and represents the progressive wing’s latest attempt to pull the Democratic Party even further from mainstream American values.
Now he’s literally taking money from someone who honored Nazi military service. The symbolism couldn’t be clearer.
Where Are the Principles?
Michigan voters deserve better than candidates who will compromise any principle in pursuit of campaign cash. The Democratic primary on August 4 will reveal whether party voters are willing to overlook this moral failing.
El-Sayed had a simple choice: reject Neumann’s fundraising support and make a clear statement that Nazi apologism has no place in American politics. Instead, he’s moving forward with the event, sending an unmistakable message about where his priorities lie.
Money talks. Character apparently walks.
The seat currently held by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters deserves a candidate with the backbone to draw clear lines—particularly when those lines separate American values from Nazi collaboration. El-Sayed’s decision to proceed with this fundraiser demonstrates a troubling willingness to excuse the inexcusable when political expediency demands it.
Michigan Republicans are watching closely. Whoever emerges from this Democratic primary will carry this baggage into the general election—and voters won’t forget which candidate thought Nazi Wehrmacht service was an acceptable topic for campaign fundraiser small talk.
