A new political ad featuring the brother of a 9/11 pilot is pressing Michigan voters to reject Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, according to reporting by The Gateway Pundit. The spot centers on Jim Ogonowski, brother of Capt. John Ogonowski, who was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 — the first hijacked plane to strike the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
In the ad, which was shared on social media by reporter Laura Loomer, Jim Ogonowski speaks directly to the camera about his brother and the personal toll of the attacks.
“My brother John was the captain of American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the towers on September 11th,” Ogonowski says. He adds that he “lost my best friend that day” and watched his brother’s three young daughters lose their father.
A Sharply Personal Appeal
The message then pivots to El-Sayed, tying the candidate to Hasan Piker, the prominent left-wing streamer who said in a widely circulated clip that “America deserved 9/11.”
“Abdul El-Sayed campaigned with a man who said America deserved 9/11,” Ogonowski says in the ad. “I am asking Michigan voters to protect our nation. Reject Abdul El-Sayed for U.S. Senate.”
The ad arrives roughly two months before Michigan voters head to the polls in a marquee Senate contest that has drawn national attention. Loomer, sharing the video on X, called it a “powerful ad for Michigan’s Senate race” and framed the stakes in stark terms, writing that if El-Sayed wins, “America is over and we will be worse than the UK in 3 years.”
The Piker Controversy
At the center of the ad is El-Sayed’s handling of a years-old remark by Piker. According to The Gateway Pundit, El-Sayed has been repeatedly asked to disavow Piker’s comment that “America deserved 9/11” — a clip that has been recirculated widely by conservative accounts on social media.
When pressed on the matter, El-Sayed did not issue a clean break from the streamer. Instead, he described the remark as a stupid statement while objecting to the way the controversy was being used against him. He suggested the comment was being taken “out of context” and pointed to what he called “gotcha politics” and “cancel culture” as the drivers of the uproar.
“Of course, it was a dumb statement, and of course, I think Hassan himself would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11, but you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with dumb things somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves to say, ‘Oh well, what does that mean about what you think?'” El-Sayed said, according to the report.
He also argued that the left had once agreed cancel culture was a “bad idea back in 2020,” and accused Republicans of embracing the so-called relic of left-wing politics. The Gateway Pundit characterized that framing as laughable, arguing cancel culture remains alive and well within the Democratic Party — an assessment that reflects the outlet’s editorial stance rather than a neutral finding.
A Broader Fight Over the Airwaves
The 9/11 ad is the latest front in an increasingly combative Michigan Senate race. El-Sayed, a former public health official and onetime gubernatorial candidate, has built a national profile on the left, and his associations have become a central line of attack from Republicans.
His opponent, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, has also seized on the issue of El-Sayed’s donor base. According to the report, Rogers spoke at the first-ever Republican National Committee midterm convention, where he accused El-Sayed of fundraising from what Rogers described as Islamic terror organizations. The Gateway Pundit covered those remarks under a headline claiming Rogers “exposes” El-Sayed over the funding allegations.
Those allegations, as presented by Rogers and amplified by conservative outlets, have not been independently verified in the source material, and El-Sayed’s campaign has not responded to them in the reporting cited here.
What is clear is that the Ogonowski ad injects one of the most emotionally charged moments in modern American history directly into a competitive Senate race. For supporters of the spot, the message is simple and personal: a man who lost his brother on 9/11 is asking voters to weigh that loss against El-Sayed’s response to a comment about the attacks.
For El-Sayed’s defenders, the ad is likely to be seen as an attempt to weaponize grief and guilt by association in a race where the candidate has already distanced himself from the substance of Piker’s remark. Whether the spot moves Michigan voters — or hardens positions on both sides — will become clearer as the November election approaches.
The Gateway Pundit’s Margaret Flavin reported the ad and the surrounding controversy. The outlet has published multiple items on the Michigan race, including coverage of Rogers’ convention speech and the Piker clip.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/powerful-brother-captain-hijacked-9-11-plane-cuts/