Michigan Democratic Rivals Press Senate Candidate El-Sayed to Disavow Israel-Aid Ad Days Before Election

With four days left before Michigan voters pick a senator, the state's Democratic establishment spent the weekend arguing over whether to help elect its own nominee.

Abdul El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator if he wins Tuesday, came under pressure this week after an outside group, Cenk Uygur's Rebellion PAC, aired an ad connecting U.S. financial backing for Israel's military to rising domestic prices. El-Sayed's campaign had no role in producing or placing the ad. On Thursday, the campaign distanced itself from it anyway.

Haley Stevens, the House member El-Sayed defeated in August's Democratic primary, used that concession as the opening for a public statement Friday laying out conditions for her support, timed to a planned joint campaign appearance with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., on Sunday.

"I have learned from Democratic Party leaders and emissaries, as reported in the news media, that Dr. El-Sayed has heard the deep concerns of the Jewish community and is now, for the first time in this campaign, formally condemning that ad for what it is," Stevens wrote.

Stevens, who is not Jewish or Black, framed the statement as speaking for Michigan's Jewish and Black communities. She also demanded El-Sayed pull a separate ad featuring Tucker Carlson saying he would "never" back Republican candidate Mike Rogers, a demand she cast as a defense of Black voters' concerns.

The pressure followed a personal signal from Stevens's own household. Her fiancé, political donor Jason Turkish, who has previously backed Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, announced he would vote for Rogers on Tuesday. Turkish told TMZ his fiancée might join him if El-Sayed did not meet her demands.

The maneuvering drew open criticism from within the party. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who placed third in the August primary, told CNN Friday night she had "no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing," adding that Democrats needed to "recognize the stakes."

Former President Barack Obama has campaigned repeatedly for El-Sayed in Michigan, and Clyburn's planned Sunday appearance was arranged before Stevens attached conditions to her own attendance. Recent polling cited in reporting on the race, including CNN surveys published Thursday, showed Democrats with a lead in Michigan's Senate contest.

The episode plays out against a broader pattern in the party: pro-Israel advocacy groups and allied officials applying public pressure to candidates who criticize U.S. military funding for Israel, even when, as here, the candidate's own campaign had no hand in the material drawing objection.