In the race for Senate in Michigan, multiple party fights are colliding for Democrats

DETROIT — After two years in the political wilderness, Democrats are feeling cautiously optimistic about turning the tide in the midterms. That has only intensified debate about the direction of the party.

Nowhere is that debate more fraught now than Michigan, where Democrats are weighing two millennial candidates for an open Senate seat.

One is Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist firing up progressives by embracing "Medicare for All" and ripping the influence of corporate money in politics.

The other is Haley Stevens, a four-term congresswoman who flipped a suburban House district and pledges to fight President Trump while still practicing a more moderate brand of politics.

In Michigan, as in other Democratic primaries this year, the debate over special interest money has been felt most sharply in conversations around AIPAC. The pro-Israel lobbying group is spending millions to boost Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel, and oppose El-Sayed, who supports ending U.S. military aid to the country.

That outside spending has helped flood mailboxes and the airwaves with advertisements. Multiple voters at the picnic questioned El-Sayed on a mailer they received, paid for by an AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, that accused him of making disparaging remarks about former First Lady Michelle Obama.

The debate has become so fierce in part because of sizable Jewish and Arab communities here.

"We have not said the I-word, but Israel is a very big factor," she says. "It's just very hard, and I do not like that it has become the central issue. Because by golly, we're on fire in this country," she says.

Some voters say it is El-Sayed's position on Israel that is the non-starter. Outside a suburban library with his two little grandkids in tow, Irvin Kappy says he would not back El-Sayed if he is the nominee.

"Absolutely not," he says. "I'd vote for the Republican, which I've never done before."

"The 6-year-olds that I coach here, they're just as precious as the 6-year-olds in Palestine," he said.

Michigan Democratic heavyweights, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and retiring Sen. Gary Peters, lined up behind Stevens. El-Sayed has the backing of progressive superstars like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y.