Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has asked congresswoman Haley Stevens to stay away from his campaign events, exposing divisions within the party as it contests a closely fought Michigan race. The decision comes after the former primary rivals had arranged to attend a church service together in Detroit on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters after a campaign rally, El-Sayed said he wanted to keep distractions away from the contest, according to the New York Times. He suggested that others were trying to shift attention toward issues that did not define the race. His comments made public a break with a fellow Democrat who had endorsed his candidacy.
The dispute brings renewed attention to the strained relationship between the progressive nominee and the more moderate Stevens. El-Sayed defeated her in a bitter primary in August, and she endorsed him shortly afterward. Despite that endorsement, Stevens had not appeared publicly alongside him and had spent weeks criticizing him in public.
Their planned Sunday appearance would have brought the two together on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Stevens’s fiance, Jason Turkish, has been campaigning for Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate facing El-Sayed. The competing political allegiances form part of the backdrop to a contest Democrats view as crucial to their effort to regain the Senate.
The latest confrontation followed Stevens’s demand, two days before the scheduled joint appearance, that El-Sayed condemn a political advertisement from an outside group. The advertisement attributed higher prices to US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Stevens called on the Democratic nominee to denounce it.
El-Sayed responded in a statement accusing Stevens of continuing to fight over a primary that had ended three months earlier. His statement also pointed to heavy spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee aimed at defeating him during that primary campaign.
He urged Democrats to concentrate on defeating Rogers and holding Trump accountable. The statement also outlined priorities including removing money from politics, improving people’s finances and passing Medicare for All.
The public disagreement has alarmed Democrats who regard Michigan as a race they must win to recover control of the Senate. Speaking to CNN on Friday, Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow questioned Stevens’s actions and urged recognition of the election’s stakes. She said voters were discussing gas and grocery prices rather than political advertisements or Stevens.
