Days before they are set to headline a rally in Detroit, Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., traded critical messages in statements released Friday, escalating tensions between the two in the final stretch of El-Sayed’s campaign for Senate.
Stevens said that she expected El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who defeated her in a bitter Democratic primary in August, to formally condemn an ad from an outside progressive group that she called antisemitic, adding that it’s why she agreed to join El-Sayed on the campaign trail for the first time on Sunday.
“This ad tells Michigan families they cannot afford groceries because their money has to be set aside for ‘killing Palestinians,’ and it blames our close ally Israel for everything Michiganders cannot afford,” Stevens said in a statement.
She sought to tie the ad — which is set in a grocery store and suggests Israel and the war in Gaza are to blame for rising prices in America — to comments El-Sayed has made in his own campaign.
“I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well,” Stevens said. “Abdul promises to get money out of politics. He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”
El-Sayed is not affiliated with the group that produced the ad, Rebellion PAC, and his campaign distanced itself from the ad in statements to The New York Times earlier this week.
Stevens also called on El-Sayed to take down one of his own ads that featured right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson “out of the same respect for Michigan’s Black community.”
El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, shot back Friday, saying in a statement that Stevens, a strong supporter of Israel, “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago” and that his campaign’s focus was 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, referencing Stevens’ support from the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, during the primary.
The exchange comes after the former primary opponents had seemingly reached a reconciliation, agreeing to appear at an event in Detroit alongside senior Democratic leader Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., on Sunday. The escalation is also playing out four days before voters will choose between El-Sayed and Republican candidate Mike Rogers to be the next Michigan senator in a race the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up.
It’s unclear whether Stevens’ and El-Sayed’s Friday statements will affect their appearance Sunday. Representatives for Stevens and El-Sayed did not respond when asked for additional comment and whether the two still planned to appear at the event.
On Wednesday, Stevens sat for an interview on CNN in which she signaled she would vote for El-Sayed while also calling on him to denounce the ad from Rebellion PAC. That interview came shortly after Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News that he was voting for Rogers.
“Of course I’m voting for our Democratic nominee for Senate,” Stevens said. “I’m voting for the Democratic ticket. But I want to encourage this campaign to shut out the hate and to call it out and to make people who are in my coalition, make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls.”
The tensions between El-Sayed and Stevens have drawn in other Michigan Democrats as the party hopes to secure a critical Senate seat in the race to control Congress.
“First of all, I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said Friday on CNN. “This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes.”
Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior member of Michigan’s delegation, sought to downplay the conflict on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” saying Friday that she helped broker the event Sunday with Clyburn, who is close with Stevens.
“I think that, quite frankly, a lot of people are trying to create more controversy here, when I think the real discussion should be about what’s been happening in Washington and how we’ve got to stand up to what we’ve seen in the last two years,” Dingell said.
