Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is warning Rep. Haley Stevens to stay away from his campaign events, as his feud between the Dem he defeated in the primary boils over and threatens to upend his attempts to unify the party before Tuesday’s election.
The spat reignited publicly after Stevens, who lost to the Israel-hating El-Sayed by just 1% of the vote in the Democratic primary, demanded he apologize for saying “Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, health care, and child care.”
In a lengthy statement Friday, Stevens welcomed his “expected condemnation” of an “antisemitic campaign advertisement” featuring a Michigan couple complaining about high food prices and attributing it to US military support for Israel.
But El-Sayed refused, instead issuing his own statement Friday claiming that Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago,” and instead should focus on beating former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who he labeled as “Trump’s hand-picked candidate.”
And he blasted “$70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens.”
El-Sayed’s camp is asking Stevens to stay away from future events, Stevens’ fiancé Jason Turkish, who has endorsed Rogers, told Fox News.
The blowout threatened to upend El-Sayed’s effort to unify the party in the final days of his campaign, where he has maintained a narrow lead over Rogers in public polls.
“I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes,” said State Rep. Mallory McMorrow, another defeated primary candidate, told CNN.
Stevens said in her statement she will go to church with House Democratic whip Rep. James C. Clyburn, who is backing El-Sayed, in what was to have been an event with El-Sayed Sunday. El-Sayed’s camp didn’t respond to a question Saturday about its status.
Stevens’ fiance, Jason Turkish, a Dem who is Jewish, announced Wednesday that he is voting for Rogers in a stunning rebuke to El-Sayed.
The flare-up came over an outside group’s ad that features a couple fretting over prices in a supermarket, with the woman saying there wasn’t enough money to buy eggs because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians” – in an attack on US support for Israel that has angered some Jewish groups.
El-Sayed’s campaign said the candidate “is not affiliated in any way” and that it doesn’t speak for him – but the candidate has not explicitly disavowed it or apologized as Stevens is demanding.
“Abdul is focused on pushing back against Trump’s agenda that is raising prices for Michiganders. No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” said spokesperson Roxie Richner.
Rogers tore into the ad in comments in Muskegon, Michigan, telling Fox “you can’t blame an ethnic group for high prices,” and adding, “this one just really gets my blood pressure going.”
