Growing number of GOP candidates are using anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign trail

Anti-Muslim rhetoric has become increasingly common on the campaign trail at a moment when many Republicans are eager to shift attention away from the economy.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Over the last few months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has found a solid foothold in GOP messaging. Muslims, who make up about 1% of the population, are being made into a bogeyman in many of these political ads. (SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: Radical Islam is taking root in Texas. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: Radical Islam is incompatible with the West. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: They don't think we deserve the right to exist as Americans or as Christians. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #4: Hate our way of life. They want Sharia law. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #5: Oklahoma is next. FADEL: And this bigotry has been met with virtually no condemnation from Republicans. NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt has been following all this and joins me now. Good morning, Barbara. BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Good morning. FADEL: So you've spent a lot of time looking at campaign ads for Republicans around the country who've been using anti-Muslim rhetoric. What stands out to you? SPRUNT: I mean, it's striking to me how explicit those ads are. They basically are saying radical Islam is infiltrating our communities - our way of life is at stake. They traffic in really ugly language. And experts on political speech say that that language can lead to real harm, real threats. FADEL: Especially the last two decades, there's been this kind of sentiment in our politics and in policies. But what's been shocking to me has been how blatant it is. I mean, is it growing right now? SPRUNT: Yes. I mean, the experts that I spoke to will say it is growing. And... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We see this partly because, in more recent years, the success of some Muslim politicians. You know, you have Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed, who just won the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan. And people who track this type of hateful language have found that after both of those elections, anti-Muslim speech skyrocketed among Republican politicians. But it's a little too simplistic to sort of lay this at the feet of successful Muslim politicians. This is really just one piece of a bigger puzzle. And this new chapter of anti-Muslim hate really traces back about two years to a Muslim community-development project in Texas that got a lot of attention and investigations and lawsuits from Texas Republicans. And the language around that development was intensely focused on, quote, Sharia law, and it sort of acted as a nexus and spread out from there. FADEL: And it spread to Congress as well. I mean, there's a Sharia-Free America Caucus on the Hill with dozens of GOP members, which to me is striking, given that Sharia refers to Islamic rules for the way practicing Muslims live their life. How is this being distorted in the ads that you looked at? SPRUNT: The way that some Republicans are talking about Sharia is as though it's something that can be superimposed on the American legal system, and that's just not the case. And the fear-mongering about Sharia echoes the ideas of great replacement, the conspiracy theory that white populations in Western countries are being replaced by nonwhite populations for political purposes. And this theory is linked to deadly attacks of various minority communities in the U.S. You know... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We've seen it in San Diego, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, El Paso. FADEL: It is dangerous. But politically speaking, is it an effective messaging strategy? SPRUNT: Well, this is a question I actually put to Vinny Minchillo. He's a Republican consultant. He's done work for President Trump in the past. And he said, you know, motivating issues for voters are typically either hope or fear. This would be the fear. And there's another component he mentioned. VINNY MINCHILLO: Let's be honest. If you look at any poll anywhere in the country, people's No. 1 concern is economy and inflation. So for those of us on the Republican side, gee, if we can have a problem to talk about that's not economy and inflation, we're excited to put that in the message set. SPRUNT: But others see this as sort of shortsighted - you know, that it weakens the inroads that Republicans have made in more conservative pockets of Muslim communities. Plus, a lot of American voters who aren't Muslim are just as disturbed and offended by this hate speech. FADEL: Well, that's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Thank you, Barbara. SPRUNT: Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF BARK PSYCHOSIS SONG, "THE LOOM") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Over the last few months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has found a solid foothold in GOP messaging. Muslims, who make up about 1% of the population, are being made into a bogeyman in many of these political ads. (SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: Radical Islam is taking root in Texas. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: Radical Islam is incompatible with the West. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: They don't think we deserve the right to exist as Americans or as Christians. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #4: Hate our way of life. They want Sharia law. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #5: Oklahoma is next. FADEL: And this bigotry has been met with virtually no condemnation from Republicans. NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt has been following all this and joins me now. Good morning, Barbara. BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Good morning. FADEL: So you've spent a lot of time looking at campaign ads for Republicans around the country who've been using anti-Muslim rhetoric. What stands out to you? SPRUNT: I mean, it's striking to me how explicit those ads are. They basically are saying radical Islam is infiltrating our communities - our way of life is at stake. They traffic in really ugly language. And experts on political speech say that that language can lead to real harm, real threats. FADEL: Especially the last two decades, there's been this kind of sentiment in our politics and in policies. But what's been shocking to me has been how blatant it is. I mean, is it growing right now? SPRUNT: Yes. I mean, the experts that I spoke to will say it is growing. And... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We see this partly because, in more recent years, the success of some Muslim politicians. You know, you have Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed, who just won the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan. And people who track this type of hateful language have found that after both of those elections, anti-Muslim speech skyrocketed among Republican politicians. But it's a little too simplistic to sort of lay this at the feet of successful Muslim politicians. This is really just one piece of a bigger puzzle. And this new chapter of anti-Muslim hate really traces back about two years to a Muslim community-development project in Texas that got a lot of attention and investigations and lawsuits from Texas Republicans. And the language around that development was intensely focused on, quote, Sharia law, and it sort of acted as a nexus and spread out from there. FADEL: And it spread to Congress as well. I mean, there's a Sharia-Free America Caucus on the Hill with dozens of GOP members, which to me is striking, given that Sharia refers to Islamic rules for the way practicing Muslims live their life. How is this being distorted in the ads that you looked at? SPRUNT: The way that some Republicans are talking about Sharia is as though it's something that can be superimposed on the American legal system, and that's just not the case. And the fear-mongering about Sharia echoes the ideas of great replacement, the conspiracy theory that white populations in Western countries are being replaced by nonwhite populations for political purposes. And this theory is linked to deadly attacks of various minority communities in the U.S. You know... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We've seen it in San Diego, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, El Paso. FADEL: It is dangerous. But politically speaking, is it an effective messaging strategy? SPRUNT: Well, this is a question I actually put to Vinny Minchillo. He's a Republican consultant. He's done work for President Trump in the past. And he said, you know, motivating issues for voters are typically either hope or fear. This would be the fear. And there's another component he mentioned. VINNY MINCHILLO: Let's be honest. If you look at any poll anywhere in the country, people's No. 1 concern is economy and inflation. So for those of us on the Republican side, gee, if we can have a problem to talk about that's not economy and inflation, we're excited to put that in the message set. SPRUNT: But others see this as sort of shortsighted - you know, that it weakens the inroads that Republicans have made in more conservative pockets of Muslim communities. Plus, a lot of American voters who aren't Muslim are just as disturbed and offended by this hate speech. FADEL: Well, that's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Thank you, Barbara. SPRUNT: Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF BARK PSYCHOSIS SONG, "THE LOOM") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: Radical Islam is taking root in Texas. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: Radical Islam is incompatible with the West. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: They don't think we deserve the right to exist as Americans or as Christians. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #4: Hate our way of life. They want Sharia law. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #5: Oklahoma is next. FADEL: And this bigotry has been met with virtually no condemnation from Republicans. NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt has been following all this and joins me now. Good morning, Barbara. BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Good morning. FADEL: So you've spent a lot of time looking at campaign ads for Republicans around the country who've been using anti-Muslim rhetoric. What stands out to you? SPRUNT: I mean, it's striking to me how explicit those ads are. They basically are saying radical Islam is infiltrating our communities - our way of life is at stake. They traffic in really ugly language. And experts on political speech say that that language can lead to real harm, real threats. FADEL: Especially the last two decades, there's been this kind of sentiment in our politics and in policies. But what's been shocking to me has been how blatant it is. I mean, is it growing right now? SPRUNT: Yes. I mean, the experts that I spoke to will say it is growing. And... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We see this partly because, in more recent years, the success of some Muslim politicians. You know, you have Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed, who just won the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan. And people who track this type of hateful language have found that after both of those elections, anti-Muslim speech skyrocketed among Republican politicians. But it's a little too simplistic to sort of lay this at the feet of successful Muslim politicians. This is really just one piece of a bigger puzzle. And this new chapter of anti-Muslim hate really traces back about two years to a Muslim community-development project in Texas that got a lot of attention and investigations and lawsuits from Texas Republicans. And the language around that development was intensely focused on, quote, Sharia law, and it sort of acted as a nexus and spread out from there. FADEL: And it spread to Congress as well. I mean, there's a Sharia-Free America Caucus on the Hill with dozens of GOP members, which to me is striking, given that Sharia refers to Islamic rules for the way practicing Muslims live their life. How is this being distorted in the ads that you looked at? SPRUNT: The way that some Republicans are talking about Sharia is as though it's something that can be superimposed on the American legal system, and that's just not the case. And the fear-mongering about Sharia echoes the ideas of great replacement, the conspiracy theory that white populations in Western countries are being replaced by nonwhite populations for political purposes. And this theory is linked to deadly attacks of various minority communities in the U.S. You know... FADEL: Yeah. SPRUNT: We've seen it in San Diego, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, El Paso. FADEL: It is dangerous. But politically speaking, is it an effective messaging strategy? SPRUNT: Well, this is a question I actually put to Vinny Minchillo. He's a Republican consultant. He's done work for President Trump in the past. And he said, you know, motivating issues for voters are typically either hope or fear. This would be the fear. And there's another component he mentioned. VINNY MINCHILLO: Let's be honest. If you look at any poll anywhere in the country, people's No. 1 concern is economy and inflation. So for those of us on the Republican side, gee, if we can have a problem to talk about that's not economy and inflation, we're excited to put that in the message set. SPRUNT: But others see this as sort of shortsighted - you know, that it weakens the inroads that Republicans have made in more conservative pockets of Muslim communities. Plus, a lot of American voters who aren't Muslim are just as disturbed and offended by this hate speech. FADEL: Well, that's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Thank you, Barbara. SPRUNT: Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF BARK PSYCHOSIS SONG, "THE LOOM") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE) UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: Radical Islam is taking root in Texas. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: Radical Islam is incompatible with the West. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: They don't think we deserve the right to exist as Americans or as Christians. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #4: Hate our way of life. They want Sharia law. UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #5: Oklahoma is next. FADEL: And this bigotry has been met with virtually no condemnation from Republicans. NPR congressional correspondent Barbara