Michigan Democrats feud in final midterm weekend as Stevens clashes with El-Sayed

An internal Democratic feud in Michigan has broken into the open in the final weekend of the US midterm campaign. Representative Haley Stevens has demanded that Dr Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee and her former primary rival, disavow an ad from an outside group, and El-Sayed has fired back that Stevens is intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.

El-Sayed offered that reminder on Friday afternoon, noting that he beat Stevens in August. El-Sayed, who defeated Stevens in a bitter Democratic primary in August, is now running against former Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee.

The flashpoint came this month during Michigan's first Senate debate between El-Sayed and Rogers. El-Sayed, an outspoken critic of Israel, was asked whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the United States; he dodged the question, calling it a ridiculous hypothetical. Stevens said El-Sayed is a good, gifted speaker, and asked how that could happen.

At the centre of Stevens's anger is an online ad made by Rebellion PAC, a left-wing group that backed El-Sayed. Stevens called the ad antisemitic because it blamed US support for Israel for high grocery prices. The El-Sayed campaign has said it did not make the ad and is not responsible for it.

On Friday, Stevens announced she would attend a Sunday church service in Detroit with El-Sayed, a peace offering brokered by Representatives Debbie Dingell of Michigan and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina. But her statement came with a caveat: a demand that El-Sayed publicly disavow the ad.

Late on Friday, Stevens said she was not sure if the church event was still happening, or even if she was still invited, and said no one from El-Sayed's team had called her on Friday. She also said she had not retracted her endorsement of him and did not plan to.

Stevens repeated her assertion that she supported all Democrats running, including El-Sayed, and that she planned to vote for him. But asked if she wanted him to win, she was more circumspect.

Some other Michigan Democrats have been baffled by Stevens's media tour. Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who also ran for the US Senate in Michigan and dropped out a month before the primary, said on CNN on Friday that she had no idea what Stevens was doing, adding that this is a moment to recognise the stakes. El-Sayed's campaign declined to discuss Stevens's commentary.

Stevens is not Jewish but has always been a pro-Israel Democrat. She attended a Jewish sleep-away camp as a teenager and now represents suburban Oakland County, home to a large segment of Michigan's Jewish population. Tensions over Israel dominated her primary with El-Sayed, when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's main super PAC spent at least $30 million backing her campaign.

Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, a Jewish lawyer who has raised money for both Democrats and Republicans, has gone even further in criticising El-Sayed. He publicly endorsed Rogers and appeared at a campaign event with him on Wednesday. Stevens said that in anticipation of her wedding next summer to Turkish, she had met with a rabbi to discuss the possibility of converting to Judaism.

Polls show El-Sayed in a close race with Rogers. To win the Senate, Democrats need to retain Democratic-held seats like Michigan's and flip at least four states held by Republicans, making Michigan a key piece in the party's push to take back the chamber.

The feud unfolded as the midterm campaign roared into its final weekend. Strategists on both sides widely expect Democrats to win control of the House, and Democrats who described themselves as nauseously optimistic also appear in range of winning a slim majority in the Senate, a goal that once seemed out of reach.