The Democratic nominee for Michigan's Senate seat has told the congresswoman he beat in the primary to stay away from his campaign altogether, in a public falling-out in the final days before the election. Abdul El-Sayed's campaign asked Representative Haley Stevens to keep away from all future campaign events, after a day of back-and-forth over an outside-group advertisement.
Stevens opened the exchange on Friday, announcing what she called a unifying moment. She said she had learned that El-Sayed would disavow a Rebellion PAC advertisement she calls antisemitic — an ad produced by Cenk Uygur which argues that Jews are responsible for America's economic woes — and that she would stand alongside him and Representative Jim Clyburn at a Detroit church service on Sunday. Her statement pressed El-Sayed to condemn the ad formally and to apologise, arguing that the ad dramatised arguments he has made himself, and it criticised his first response to the ad, which was that he was not affiliated with it.
El-Sayed answered on Friday evening with a statement that did neither of the things Stevens had announced. It contained no condemnation of the Rebellion PAC ad and no apology. He said his campaign is focused on the challenges Michiganders face — skyrocketing gas prices, unaffordable groceries and the inability to see a doctor — that his people-powered campaign had defeated a historic $70 million in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on Stevens' behalf, and that the priority now is defeating President Trump's hand-picked candidate, taking back the Senate and defending democracy, rather than relitigating a primary that ended three months ago. His campaign then let it be known that Stevens is not welcome at its future events.
The seat is an open one — Senator Gary Peters is retiring — and it is rated a toss-up that could help decide control of the Senate on Tuesday. For Michigan voters, the choice the feud presents is plain: their nominee is spending the final weekend telling his own party's congresswoman to stay away, betting that voters care more about his message on prices and health care than about a united front — and that the primary's wounds, three months old, are not what this election is about.
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