El-Sayed spars with Stevens over claim that he blames Jewish Americans

Detroit — Tensions over support from an influential and well-funded pro-Israel political action committee to U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens' Senate campaign are rising in the final days of her nationally watched showdown with Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed.

Days before the Aug. 4 primary, Stevens in a late Thursday night post on X said El-Sayed wants to "blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans."

"You lost by over twenty points to Gretchen Whitmer and you will lose to Mike Rogers by talking like this," Stevens wrote, referencing El-Sayed's failed 2018 gubernatorial bid and the presumptive Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers. "Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans."

El-Sayed, who is Muslim, has repeatedly attacked the prolific spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, in Stevens' favor this election. United Democracy Project, which has been funded in part by AIPAC, is slated to spend $28.5 million either supporting Stevens or attacking El-Sayed.

"At the end of the day, I love and revere Judaism and the Jewish people," El-Sayed said when asked about Stevens' post at a Saturday campaign event in Detroit. "It's sad to see a campaign flailing at the very end after having burnt $70 million in money. Our focus is on continuing to build our campaign."

Stevens' Senate bid has been aided by a staggering 11-to-1 advantage in outside spending.

At a campaign stop along Detroit's Avenue of Fashion on Livernois, a Detroit News reporter asked Stevens to explain her comments about El-Sayed and Jewish Americans.

"Unlike my opponent, I have not been running a divisive race and blaming it on an organization or a group of people," Stevens said. "(I'm) not doing the fear mongering. I'm talking about what Michigan needs right now."

"I have chosen, you know, not to run a campaign placing blame on one country for America's problems," she added. "I don't get that."

Stevens and El-Sayed are making final pitches to Democratic voters in the last days before Tuesday's primary election in Michigan.

El-Sayed called on supporters to vote early — Detroit early voting sites are open Saturday and Sunday — during a Saturday rally at the church of the Rev. Horace Sheffield, father of Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield.

"We're taking on the power of their money with the power of our many," El-Sayed said. "Now, let's go take our democracy back."

Stevens also argued she would be the most formidable candidate to face Rogers, speaking to the concerns of some Democratic voters that progressive rival El-Sayed will not appeal broadly enough to win in November.

"We're almost 95 days till the general election, and one thing we want to do here in Michigan is we want to send Mike Rogers back to Florida for a second time," Stevens told reporters. "We do not want to see MAGA be rubber-stamped by a senator. We want to see people get access to health care. We want to see costs lowered. We want to see Michigan front and center at the lawmaking table, saying we are going to be standing up to abuses of power and making sure that the people are heard."

"Y'all, it just shouldn't be this hard in the richest, most powerful country in the world to pay your rent or believe you can ever own a home," El-Sayed said. "It shouldn't be this hard to see a doctor. It should not be this hard to pay your taxes and know that that money is being spent on you, rather than against someone else."