Now/Aug 28, 2026/2 min
In Troy, Michigan civic leaders answer remarks aimed at Usha Vance
At the MIGOP office in Troy, Indian-American civic leaders told Abdul El-Sayed to debate policy and leave Usha Vance and her children out of it.
On Friday, Aug 28, Michigan Republican Party officers and Indian-American civic leaders stood in a press room at the MIGOP office in Troy. Their message to Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed was a public one: debate Vice President JD Vance on policy. Leave Second Lady Usha Vance and her children out of it.
This is a Michigan room answering a Michigan race. Named people in that room included MIGOP co-chair Sunny Reddy, RNC national committeewoman Hima Kolanagireddy, MIGOP youth chair Krish Mathrani, 56th District House candidate Ashok Baddi, and neurologist Dr. Haranath Policherla.
What was said
Reddy told El-Sayed to debate Vance on immigration, the economy, and foreign policy, “but leave his wife and children out of it.” “Michigan deserves better,” he said. “Our community deserves better.”
Usha Vance, speaking separately to Fox News, said she “kind of laughed” at the remark and that members of her husband’s family had treated her with love. That tone belongs on the record. It is not this desk’s job to overwrite it.
Why it is on this page
Michigan Now exists to put the local civic room on the landing page, not to pick a ticket. The official MIGOP post carries video of that Troy room, with a Midwesterner watch cut and a Michigan News Source writeup.
The principle in the room was public dignity, spoken as honor and protection of a woman and her children. The speakers did not cite a festival. This desk does not either, beyond naming what happened in Troy.