Michigan Democrats Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens clash over ad linking grocery prices to U.S. aid for Israel

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat Senate candidate for Michigan in Tuesday’s midterms, is embroiled in a dispute with Democrat Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who was defeated by El-Sayed in the Democratic primary for the Senate nomination in August, ahead of the crucial vote.

On Friday, Stevens released a statement urging El-Sayed’s campaign to “condemn” an ad which, according to Stevens, “tells Michigan families they cannot afford groceries because their money has been set aside ‘for killing Palestinians’ and it blames our close ally Israel for everything Michiganders cannot afford.”

Stevens then explicitly criticized El-Sayed, arguing that ad merely “dramatized” an argument that “Dr El-Sayed has made in his own words throughout this campaign: that Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, health care, and child care … I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well.”

The statement also indicated that, despite her qualms with El-Sayed’s campaign, Stevens would campaign for El-Sayed in Detroit on Sunday to show Democratic unity before Tuesday.

Backlash to Stevens’ statement from the El-Sayed camp was swift.

“Defeating Trump’s hand-picked candidate, taking back the Senate, and defending our democracy … should be the priority for all of us right now. Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating that ended three months ago,” El-Sayed said in a statement published on his X account on Friday.

U.S. policy towards Israel was a contentious issue in the Michigan Democrat primary; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its affiliates spent around $30 million in support of Stevens’ campaign, the largest investment of the pro-Israel group into a single congressional primary.

Stevens has been a vocal supporter of Israel, having characterized anti-Zionism as a “hate movement that has taken over in America and throughout parts of the West,” rejected claims that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and consistently voted for maintaining the supply of U.S. military aid to Israel.

El-Sayed, by contrast, has indeed accused the Middle Eastern nation of committing genocide in Gaza and has vocally opposed sending U.S. military aid to the country.

His statement on Friday claimed that his focus “on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing: Skyrocketing gas prices, unaffordable groceries, and the inability to see a doctor … is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens.”

It is unclear whether Stevens will indeed campaign with El-Sayed on Sunday; Politico revealed on Friday night that two sources familiar with the decision had said that El-Sayed’s campaign had asked Stevens “to stay away from all future campaign events in the closing days of the race.”

The reignition of tensions between the two Democrats could benefit El-Sayed’s Republican opponent Mike Rogers going into Tuesday’s race; Stevens’ fiancé even said on Wednesday that he would be backing Rogers, who is trailing El-Sayed by an average of nearly five percentage points as of Saturday, according to MSNOW’s Michigan poll tracker.

Although Stevens herself vowed to support El-Sayed on Wednesday, Rogers praised her on Friday.

“Representative Haley Stevens is a courageous leader who deserves the respect of every Michigan voter … she was absolutely right to call on Abdul El-Sayed to denounce the Rebellion PAC ad and she was right to call on him to apologize for espousing the same hateful ideology behind it,” the Republican claimed on Friday.

The ad itself, created by progressive group Rebellion PAC, suggests U.S. aid to Israel is to blame for rising prices in the U.S. and shows a shopper telling a man not to buy eggs because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians.” El-Sayed’s campaign has said that it is in no way affiliated with the ad, and that it did not speak for him.

Rising prices in the U.S. have largely been attributed by experts to the repercussions of the Iran war, which Washington and Tel Aviv began in February by launching a military campaign against Tehran.