With only three days remaining before the 2026 midterm elections, a bitter Democratic dispute has broken out in Michigan between progressive Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens.
The rift began Wednesday when Stevens’s fiancé, Jason Turkish, said he planned to vote for Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s opponent in the Senate race.
Several hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN and confirmed that she would vote for El-Sayed. At the same time, however, she called on his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”
The two sides appeared to reconcile Thursday, when they arranged a Sunday campaign appearance at a Detroit church alongside South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. The influential Democrat played a significant role in Joe Biden’s 2020 primary victory.
But the truce quickly unraveled. In a social media statement Friday, Stevens criticized El-Sayed and demanded that he denounce an advertisement tying U.S. support for Israel to higher grocery prices.
El-Sayed’s campaign has since asked Stevens not to attend the church gathering, MS NOW reported Saturday.
Asked by reporters whether he wanted Stevens beside him at the event, El-Sayed avoided a direct answer and said she “wants to talk about other things.”
When a reporter bluntly asked whether Stevens was “trying to rat f***” his campaign, El-Sayed laughed and replied: “That is not a question for me.”
Abdul El–Sayed’s campaign has asked former Democratic primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens to stay away from Sunday’s church event and future campaign appearances
Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, said Wednesday that he planned to vote for Republican candidate Mike Rogers
The invitation for Stevens to attend the church event “still stands,” according to Clyburn adviser Antjuan Seawright
Rogers said he would welcome Stevens “to join us at an event or any of our campaign events,” according to MS NOW.
Clyburn adviser Antjuan Seawright also said Stevens’s invitation to attend the church gathering “still stands,” the outlet reported.
El-Sayed’s decision to distance himself from Stevens now appears likely to extend beyond Sunday’s scheduled event.
The El-Sayed campaign has asked Stevens to avoid all future campaign appearances before next week’s election, Politico reported.
According to the report, a source said Stevens should stay away so she would not “distract from the central issues of the campaign.”
On Thursday, when reporters asked about the planned church appearance with Stevens, El-Sayed said the campaign was “always trying to unify the party.”
He explained that the joint event had not been organized sooner because both candidates had demanding schedules.
The progressive Senate candidate also said that, amid the rising cost of living, “nobody cares” about internal party tensions.
When asked Saturday whether he wanted Stevens to appear with him at the church, El–Sayed said she “wants to talk about other things”
The one-minute spot at the center of the spat was run by the leftist commentator Cenk Uygur’s Rebellion PAC. Uygur is controversial streamer Hasan Piker’s uncle.
El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, previously campaigned with Piker, drawing concern from some in Michigan’s Jewish community.
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The ad features moments during conversations in a grocery store, including one where a woman tells a man she can’t afford eggs because they had to use their money ‘killing Palestinians.’
El-Sayed’s campaign has noted that the ad was not made or endorsed by the campaign and said it ‘has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing.’
El-Sayed himself told reporters on Saturday that he did ‘not agree with the contents of that ad.’
In response, Stevens said she was glad to see El-Sayed say he did not agree ‘with the content of the vile… ad which claimed Israel and Jews were to blame for the high costs of groceries.’
She did not refer to El-Sayed by name and only called him ‘our senate nominee,’ according to the statement reported by Semafor’s Nicholas Wu.
‘Whenever anyone tries to set us against each other, we have an obligation to stand up and fight back,’ Stevens added. ‘This is what our constituents deserve from those of us in elected leadership.’
Stevens had forcefully pushed back on the ad on Friday and suggested El-Sayed should do more to reject it.
She is a staunch supporter of Israel who represents a district with a significant Jewish community in Detroit’s suburbs.
‘Abdul promises to get money out of politics,’ Stevens wrote Friday on X. ‘He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.’
El-Sayed and Stevens last appeared together on August 6, two days after the primary.
Stevens, who lost the primary by just under 1 percentage point, pledged to support El-Sayed and said she would do ‘whatever he wants me to do’ on the campaign trail.
Michigan hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1994. Donald Trump won the state in 2016 and 2024.
Republicans face political challenges of their own, particularly voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the Iran war and high costs.
Rogers has remained closely aligned with the president on most issues, appearing alongside him at a Michigan rally last Sunday where he credited Trump with bringing manufacturing jobs back to the state.
Trump has repeatedly attacked El-Sayed’s Muslim faith, calling him a ‘jihadist’ and saying that he was ‘on the side of terrorists.’
He previously said: ‘If you’re black, or if you’re Jewish, and you vote for Abdul, you’re not smart.’
Both candidates are trying to win over black voters, particularly in Detroit’s Wayne County, where Stevens defeated El-Sayed in the Democratic primary.
El-Sayed’s church event with Clyburn is part of that effort.
Meanwhile, Rogers has visited a reading remediation program at a Detroit high school and discussed housing costs with residents in Pontiac, north of the city.
Early voting in Michigan started on October 24.
The Daily Mail has reached out to El-Sayed and Stevens for comment.
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