Democratic infighting has erupted in Michigan days before a critical Senate election, with Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign asking former primary rival Haley Stevens to stay away from future campaign events.
Two people familiar with the decision said Ms Stevens had been told not to appear in the closing days of the race so she would not distract from the campaign’s central issues. The request followed a day of increasingly sharp exchanges between the two Democrats.
Mr El-Sayed narrowly defeated Ms Stevens in a bitter primary in August, in a contest marked by divisions over support for Israel. The pair have not campaigned together since a post-primary unity breakfast, although they appeared close to sharing a platform on Friday.
Ms Stevens had said she would join Mr El-Sayed and Democratic representative Jim Clyburn at a church in Detroit on Sunday. She later said she expected Mr El-Sayed to apologise for previous comments and condemn an advert by an outside group supporting him.
Ms Stevens described the advert as antisemitic. It showed a conversation in a grocery shop in which a woman said they could not buy eggs because money had to be set aside for “killing Palestinians”. Mr El-Sayed’s campaign has previously said he was not affiliated with the advert.
Responding to Ms Stevens, Mr El-Sayed did not address the advert or his past comments on Israel. He said his campaign had “always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing” and that this was why it had defeated “a historic $70 million in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens”.
“So while Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago, let’s all focus on the task at hand: that’s beating Mike Rogers,” Mr El-Sayed said.
Ms Stevens did not immediately respond when asked whether she would stay off the campaign trail. She also did not answer an earlier question about whether her appearance with Mr El-Sayed was conditional on him apologising, while his campaign declined to comment.
Michigan Senate race exposes Democratic divisions
The dispute has unsettled Democrats who fear the divisions could damage their efforts to retain the seat held by retiring Democratic senator Gary Peters. Michigan is central to the party’s hopes of regaining control of the Senate.
Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, who was eliminated in the primary, criticised the public dispute before Mr El-Sayed responded. “I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes,” she told CNN.
“People are not talking about ads. They are not talking about Haley Stevens. They are talking about the price of gas and groceries,” Ms McMorrow said.
Joe Tate, a Detroit state representative who backed Ms Stevens in the primary and is now supporting Mr El-Sayed, played down the significance of the row. He said Democrats were focused on defeating Republican candidate Mike Rogers, while acknowledging that primary contests could leave “lingering effects”.
Republicans have sought to highlight the disagreement. At a rally in Daytona, Florida, on Friday night, President Donald Trump said: “If youre Black, or if youre Jewish, and you vote for Abdul, you’re not smart.”
Democratic operative Adam Carlson, who has polled for a pro-El-Sayed political action committee, questioned Ms Stevens’s decision to speak out so close to the election. He urged prominent Democrats to consider whether their public interventions were helping Mr El-Sayed, the party’s Senate campaign and efforts to check Donald Trump, or whether they were “just seeking attention”.
