El-Sayed Campaign Asks Stevens to Stay Away From Final Events in Michigan Senate Race

The campaign of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Michigan, has asked Representative Haley Stevens not to attend any of his upcoming campaign events, ending a late attempt to show a united front between the two former primary rivals three days before the election.

A source confirmed the request to USA Today, which said the news was first reported by Politico. Stevens and El-Sayed had been expected to appear together on Sunday at a Detroit church event with Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, in their first joint appearance of the general election. It is now unclear whether Stevens will attend. Neither campaign answered questions about the Sunday plans, USA Today reported.

The statement that set it off

On Friday, Stevens released a long statement calling on El-Sayed to condemn as antisemitic an advertisement from Rebellion PAC, an outside group that is not affiliated with his campaign, and to apologize for his own past remarks about Israel. The ad shows a couple in a grocery store putting back a carton of eggs and saying the money has to be set aside for killing Palestinians, then criticizes the billions of dollars in United States military support for Israel. It ends with images of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the narrator says, "Mike Rogers is for they/them," the Associated Press reported.

"Abdul promises to get money out of politics," Stevens wrote. "He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford." She also said a disclaimer is not a condemnation, and she called on El-Sayed to take down one of his own ads that features the commentator Tucker Carlson.

El-Sayed's campaign has said the Rebellion PAC ad "is not affiliated in any way" with the campaign, adding, "No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign." Answering Stevens on Friday, El-Sayed said she "seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago" and pointed to the task at hand, beating Republican nominee Mike Rogers. His campaign statement said the stakes now are "defeating Trump's handpicked candidate, taking back the Senate, and defending our democracy," USA Today reported.

A feud that kept restarting

The clash has been building for days. Stevens's fiance, Jason Turkish, told the Detroit News on October 28 that he plans to vote for Rogers. Stevens then told CNN she would vote for El-Sayed, while also calling on him to denounce the outside ad and to repair relations with Jewish and Black voters, the AP reported. A day later came word of the joint church appearance, which Representative Debbie Dingell helped arrange. Dingell defended the plan on October 30, saying everyone was working for victory on Tuesday.

Not everyone in the party welcomed the fight. State Senator Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the Senate primary earlier this year, said on CNN on October 30, "I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing," adding that the moment calls for recognizing the stakes. Rogers, for his part, praised Stevens, calling her a courageous leader and saying she was right to demand that El-Sayed denounce the ad, the AP reported.

Why Michigan matters

El-Sayed, a former public health official, beat Stevens in the August primary after groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent tens of millions of dollars to support her, USA Today reported. He has apologized for some past comments and has worked in the general election to hold support among Jewish Democrats who disagree with his criticism of Israel, saying in a recent debate that Iran and Israel both pose a threat to the United States.

Michigan is one of the Senate races that will decide control of the chamber, and Rogers has been courting centrist Democratic voters. A public split between the nominee and a sitting Democratic congresswoman, in the final days of the campaign, hands him an argument he did not have to make himself.