Just days before they were scheduled to headline a joint campaign rally in Detroit, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed traded sharp public criticisms on Friday, injecting new friction into the final stretch of Michigan’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race.
Stevens, a D-Mich. lawmaker who lost a bitter Democratic primary to El-Sayed in August, released a statement demanding that her former rival formally condemn what she described as an antisemitic commercial produced by an outside progressive organization, Rebellion PAC. The grocery-store-set advertisement suggests that Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza are responsible for rising domestic prices and financial strain on American households.
Linking the external group’s messaging to economic arguments previously made during El-Sayed’s campaign, Stevens stated that she expected an apology for those remarks as well. “Abdul promises to get money out of politics,” Stevens said. “He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.” While El-Sayed is unaffiliated with Rebellion PAC and his campaign previously distanced itself from the commercial, Stevens cited the dispute as the reason she agreed to join him on the campaign trail for the first time on Sunday.
Stevens further escalated the dispute by calling on El-Sayed to remove one of his own campaign advertisements featuring conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, arguing the step was necessary out of respect for Michigan’s Black community.
El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel who is facing Republican candidate Mike Rogers in a race rated as a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, fired back in his own statement on Friday. He accused Stevens of attempting to relitigate a primary contest that concluded three months ago and emphasized that his campaign remains focused on affordability and health care.
“That focus is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens,” El-Sayed said, pointing to financial backing Stevens received during the primary from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.
The public sparring threatens to disrupt an apparent reconciliation between the two Democrats. The pair had agreed to appear at a Sunday event in Detroit alongside senior Democratic leader Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Representatives for both campaigns did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding whether the heated exchange would affect their scheduled joint appearance four days before voters head to the polls.
The friction follows interviews earlier in the week in which Stevens signaled during a CNN appearance that she would support the Democratic ticket and vote for El-Sayed, while simultaneously urging him to denounce the outside PAC’s ad to ensure her own political coalition felt comfortable supporting him. Complicating matters further, Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, told local media outlets that he intended to vote for Rogers.
The intraparty clash has drawn concern from other prominent Michigan Democrats as the party fights to maintain control of Congress. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow criticized the timing of the dispute during a CNN appearance, saying, “This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes.” Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell sought to downplay the fallout, noting on NBC News that she helped broker Sunday’s event with Clyburn and arguing that outside observers were manufacturing controversy away from broader national policy debates.
