El-Sayed, Stevens spar in final debate of bruising Democratic primary

"Congresswoman Haley Stevens, are you taking money for your campaign from DTE or Consumers?" moderator Roop Raj asked.

"No," Stevens replied.

Raj pressed again.

"Congresswoman, that was a follow-up to ask the direct question, whether you're taking money from utilities," Raj asked.

"And I said no," Stevens replied.

El-Sayed, who has not taken money from utilities, reacted visibly on stage when Stevens denied taking money from the utilities. He argued she'd taken $40,000 from DTE's corporate political action committee.

"I don't know how to explain $40,000 directly to her campaign from DTE," El-Sayed said. "I'm the only candidate in this race who's never touched a dime of corporate PAC money."

Federal disclosures showed Stevens' Senate campaign did get $2,500 from DTE's main PAC on March 24, 2025 for the current election cycle.

The money was apparently transferred from her U.S. House committee, records show. But the donation was made a month before Stevens launched her Senate campaign.

"I also would just want to speak to the fact that, on behalf of my opponent, UDP, another name for AIPAC, has been running attack ad after attack ad after attack ad on my character," El-Sayed said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its offshoot group, United Democracy Project.