The United States was committed to free and fair elections, “not just for Egypt but for any country,” Mr. Tillerson said, but he declined to comment on a fierce wave of repression that has jailed, sidelined or threatened Mr. Sisi’s rivals in the past month.

Standing beside Mr. Tillerson, Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said Egypt’s critics were out of touch, and insisted his country had a vibrant news media with a multitude of television stations — even though on Sunday his government banned transmissions of the Arab version of the American comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” the latest step in a broad crackdown in which journalists have been arrested and about 500 websites blocked.

Later, Mr. Tillerson held private talks with Mr. Sisi at the presidential palace. A State Department spokeswoman said they focused on their shared fight against terrorism and enhancing economic and commercial ties between the United States and Egypt.

The conciliatory tone was in keeping with the broad theme of Mr. Tillerson’s trip to the Middle East, which is focused on stabilizing the region after the expected defeat of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Mr. Sisi launched a sweeping military operation against the Islamic State last Friday, spurred by a devastating attack on a mosque last November that killed 311 people and, most likely, by the approach of next month’s election.

On Sunday, a video purportedly from the Islamic State called on its fighters to carry out attacks during the election and warned Egyptians to stay away from the polls.