El-Sayed Tells Stevens to Stay Away From Campaign Amidst Feud
The Democratic Senate hopeful and his former primary rival are publicly clashing days before the midterm elections.
Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed has told Rep. Haley Stevens to distance herself from his campaign events as a feud between the two resurfaced in the days leading up to the midterm elections.
The dispute reignited after Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, called on him to apologize for remarks suggesting U.S. aid to Israel negatively impacts funding for schools, health care, and child care in Michigan. Stevens characterized the comments as antisemitic and welcomed criticism of a campaign advertisement that echoed these sentiments.
In response, El-Sayed accused Stevens of attempting to relitigate their primary contest, which concluded three months prior. He urged her to instead focus on defeating former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, whom El-Sayed described as "Trump’s hand-picked candidate." El-Sayed also criticized "$70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens."
According to Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, who has endorsed Rogers, El-Sayed's campaign has requested that Stevens avoid future campaign appearances.
This public disagreement threatens to undermine El-Sayed's efforts to unify the Democratic party in the final stretch of his campaign. Current public polling indicates El-Sayed holds a slim lead over Rogers in the race for the Senate seat.