NEW YORK (VINnews)  — Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed hit back at President Donald Trump on Sunday after the president shared a social media post contrasting the candidate and his wife with Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, in a post which was widely criticized as Islamophobic and racist.

Trump has repeatedly attacked El-Sayed since the progressive Democrat secured a decisive victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary last week, advancing to the November general election. His latest post on Truth Social featured side-by-side photographs of the two couples alongside the caption, “Two very different Americas.” The post identified El-Sayed by his full name, a practice increasingly adopted by Republican critics since his primary victory. El-Sayed’s wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, wears a hijab.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, El-Sayed dismissed Trump’s attack and responded with a personal jab at the president.

“Yes, you’ve got two different visions of America,” El-Sayed said after host Jake Tapper displayed Trump’s post. “One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other but joined together in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you, or two people who genuinely love each other and enjoyed some pancakes together.”

He continued, “Sara and I actually like each other. I don’t know about the first lady and the president, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a rocky road.”

El-Sayed, a former Detroit public health official who has positioned himself as a progressive, pro-Palestinian candidate, defeated centrist Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in a closely contested primary last week. He will face Republican Mike Rogers in November in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races.

If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate and could help Democrats regain control of the chamber, dealing a significant setback to Trump’s legislative agenda.

Following his primary victory, El-Sayed celebrated the result on social media, writing: “Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for All. Michigan… We won. I am so proud to be your Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Let’s win in November.”

Rogers has sought to portray El-Sayed as a political extremist and, shortly after the primary results were announced, Trump labeled the Democrat a “communist” on social media.

Despite the attacks, El-Sayed signaled he would continue campaigning on economic populism, focusing on the rising cost of living and expanding the social safety net.

“Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries?” he asked during the CNN interview.

Explaining his motivation for running, El-Sayed said he and his wife want a better future for their daughters.

“Sara and I are running because when we look our daughters in the eye, Emmalee and Serene, we want them to believe they’re every bit as capable of having a better future than the one they would have had under the Trump administration,” he said.

El-Sayed also revealed that he recently spoke with former President Barack Obama but declined to say whether Obama would campaign on his behalf.

“I’d like to keep that conversation private,” he said. “But it was a really warm conversation.”