Abdul-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., exchanged critical messages in statements Friday just days before they prepared to hold a rally in Detroit, escalating tensions between the two men in the final stages of El-Sayed’s Senate bid.
Stevens said she expected El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who defeated her in August’s bitter Democratic primary, to formally denounce an ad from an outside progressive group that she called anti-Semitic, adding that was why she first agreed to join El-Sayed’s campaign on Sunday.
“This ad tells Michigan families they can’t afford groceries because their money must be used to ‘kill Palestinians,’ and blames our close ally Israel for everything Michigan cannot afford,” Stevens said in a statement.
She sought to tie the ad — which was set in a grocery store and suggested that Israel and the Gaza war were to blame for rising prices in the U.S. — to comments El-Sayed had made during his own campaign.
“So I hope he can apologize for those comments as well,” Stevens said. “Abdel promises to get money out of politics. He can start by taking Israel’s account off the hook for what Michigan can’t afford.”
El-Sayed has no ties to Rebellion PAC, the group that produced the ad, and his campaign distanced itself from the ad in a statement to The New York Times earlier this week.
Stevens also called on El-Sayed to take down one of his own ads featuring right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson “out of the same respect for Michigan’s black community.”
El-Sayed, an outspoken critic of Israel, fired back on Friday, saying in a statement that Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel, “seems intent on reviving the primary that ended three months ago” and has focused his campaign on affordability and health care.
“This focus is why our people-centered campaign defeated Congresswoman Stevens’ historic $70 million in outside spending by major corporations and AIPAC,” El-Sayed said, referring to Stevens’ support during the primary from the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The exchange came after what appeared to be a rapprochement between the former primary opponents, who agreed to appear at an event in Detroit on Sunday with Rep. Jim Clyburn, the top Democratic leader. The escalation comes four days before voters will choose between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers to become Michigan’s next senator, in an election the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has characterized as a close call.
It’s unclear whether Stevens and El-Sayed’s statements on Friday will affect their appearances on Sunday. Representatives for Stevens and El-Sayed did not respond when asked for further comment and whether the pair still planned to attend the event.
On Wednesday, Stevens gave an interview to CNN in which she said she would vote for El-Sayed while calling on him to denounce Rebellion PAC’s ads. The interview came shortly after Stevens’ fiancé Jason Türkiye told The Detroit News he would be voting for Rogers.
“Of course I will vote for our Democratic Senate candidate,” Stevens said. “I vote Democratic. But I want to encourage this campaign to dismantle hate, speak out, and make people in my coalition feel safe about voting.”
The tension between El-Sayed and Stevens has attracted other Michigan Democrats as the party looks to gain a key Senate seat in the race to control Congress.
“First of all, I don’t know what the hell Haley Stevens is doing,” Michigan Senator Mallory McMorrow said on CNN on Friday. “Now is the time when we must recognize the stakes.”
Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior member of the Michigan delegation, tried to downplay the conflict on NBC News’ “Meet the Press Now,” saying Friday that she and Clyburn, who is close to Stevens, helped broker Sunday’s event.
“I think a lot of people are trying to create more controversy here, frankly, when I think the real discussion should be about what’s going on in Washington and how we deal with what we’ve seen over the past two years,” Dingell said.