Abdul El-Sayed's viral quip to uncle about marrying an Indian woman

Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the US Senate in the midterm elections, has gone viral for joking to an Egyptian uncle about marrying an Indian-origin woman, citing "a billion of them" as a statistical probability. El-Sayed, son of Egyptian immigrants, recalled the exchange in a podcast after marrying Dr Sarah Jukaku, whose family roots trace to Bhatkal, Karnataka. His uncle questioned the choice among 80 million Egyptians, prompting the humorous reply about India's larger population. Sarah Jukaku, a psychiatrist, comes from a notable Indian Muslim family, including a grandfather who served as a Mysore State deputy minister. The couple met at the University of Michigan and married in 2006, with El-Sayed's victory marking a comeback after a 2018 gubernatorial loss.