WASHINGTON — Lefty Michigan US Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is set to attend a campaign fundraiser co-hosted by a lawyer who also once honored her grandfather, who fought for Nazi Germany.
Kelly Neumann, a prominent local lawyer and Democratic fundraiser, is co-hosting the event to pad El-Sayed’s campaign coffers in the homestretch of his primary-race showdown against Democratic Michigan US Rep. Haley Stevens for their party’s Senate nod.
Neumann previously faced a firestorm on Veterans’ Day in 2024 when she honored her grandfather’s military service.
“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 2024 Facebook post, according to Jewish Insider.
“He escaped to Brazil with my Father after Germany lost in WWII and then made their way to Detroit, where they spoke no English and worked their way up to provide a stable life for their family.”
Neumann hailed her grandpa as “one of my best friends” and “one of the first people in my life that accepted me as gay when I was nervous and scared.”
The Michigan lawyer argued that her grandfather was proof that “people can change and love indeed can win.”
After facing backlash, Neumann deleted that post.
Earlier this year, Neumann issued a public apology for the post and blamed Stevens’ campaign operation for digging it up.
She also disputed the characterizations of her grandfather being a Nazi soldier, seemingly alluding to reporting that he was in the German Wehrmacht.
Many experts, as well as the Holocaust Memorial Museum, have disputed the notion that German soldiers didn’t fight for the Nazi regime.
“I sincerely apologize to anyone who was hurt by post from years ago, as that was certainly never my intention,” she wrote on Facebook in March. “I only wished to offer a personal story about my grandfather who was the first person who accepted me for me.
“To be clear, my grandfather was a german soldier, not a nazi as the Congresswoman’s team suggested.”
Neumann previously backed Dem state Sen. Mallory McMorrow’s campaign for the Senate seat, but McMorrow dropped her bid earlier this month. McMorrow has refrained from making an endorsement between El-Sayed and Stevens.
El-Sayed and Stevens are vying to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is retiring. The primary election is Aug. 4.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a Post request for comment.
But a campaign rep told Jewish Insider, “The host in question has hosted or donated to several Democratic senators, congresspeople, statewide elected officials and candidates, including Abdul’s opponent, Congresswoman Stevens.
“All of us, including the host, condemn Nazi ideology.”
