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Washington — Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has asked his Democratic primary rival, Rep. Haley Stevens, to stay away from all remaining campaign events in the final days before Tuesday’s election, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The pair clashed Friday ahead of what had been a planned Sunday campaign event where they were expected to make a rare appearance together. Politico was first to report El-Sayed had asked Stevens to stay away.
The public rift between the two Democrats comes just days before one of the country’s most hotly contested Senate races, as Republican nominee Mike Rogers seeks to peel off centrist Democratic voters. El-Sayed and the more moderate Stevens offered starkly differing visions for the future of the party during the primary, and although Stevens endorsed El-Sayed after he won the nomination, the two largely haven’t campaigned alongside each other.
In a statement Friday evening, El-Sayed said Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.”
The dig came hours after Stevens demanded that El-Sayed — a vehement critic of U.S. aid to Israel — apologize for suggesting during the campaign that “Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, health care, and child care.”
“Abdul promises to get money out of politics,” Stevens said in the statement. “He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”
She also urged El-Sayed to condemn an ad from an outside PAC that she said was antisemitic. The video ad features a couple in a grocery store talking about needing to put a carton of eggs back on the shelf because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians.” The man and woman in the ad then complain about the billions in military support that the U.S. has provided Israel.
El-Sayed’s campaign said earlier this week it was not affiliated “in any way” with the ad, which was created by the political action committee Rebellion PAC.
“No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” his campaign said in a statement.
In her Friday statement, Stevens also called on El-Sayed to take down his own ad featuring the far-right podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Stevens had said she planned to appear with El-Sayed at a Detroit church on Sunday, alongside South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. Even before asking her to stay away, an announcement from El-Sayed’s campaign about his appearance with Clyburn did not mention Stevens.
Earlier this week, Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News he would vote for Rogers. Later that day, Stevens said in a CNN interview that she would vote for El-Sayed, saying, “We’re a household divided,” but she called on his campaign “to shut out the hate and to call it out.”
This Sunday’s “60 Minutes” will feature Ross Douthat’s exclusive interviews with Michigan Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers.
