Michigan's Unity Rally Meets a Fresh Fight: El-Sayed and Stevens Trade Barbs Over an Outside Ad

The unity appearance is still on, and so is the argument. Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will campaign Sunday in Detroit alongside former primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens, the Associated Press reported - their first public appearance together since a unity breakfast days after the August 4 primary - joined by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn at a get-out-the-vote event at a Detroit church. Stevens drew significant support from Jewish and Black voters in the primary, and both campaigns are making a final push for Black voters in Wayne County, where Stevens beat El-Sayed in the primary.

The week's tensions spilled out on Wednesday, when Stevens' fiance, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News he would vote for Republican nominee Mike Rogers. Hours later Stevens appeared on CNN to reaffirm she would vote for El-Sayed, while urging his campaign to "shut out the hate and call it out" and to "make people who are in my coalition" feel comfortable coming to the polls, AP reported. El-Sayed's criticism of Israel, past remarks and associations have long drawn concern from some in Michigan's large Jewish community.

On Friday the dispute found a new subject: an ad from Rebellion PAC, an outside progressive group, set in a grocery store and suggesting Israel and the war in Gaza are to blame for higher prices. Stevens condemned the ad and said El-Sayed should reject it publicly, ENM News reported: "This ad tells Michigan families they cannot afford groceries because their money has to be set aside for 'killing Palestinians,' and it blames our close ally Israel for everything Michiganders cannot afford," Stevens said. El-Sayed is not tied to Rebellion PAC and his campaign has distanced itself from the ad; he answered Friday that Stevens was reviving a finished contest, saying, "That focus is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens." State Sen. Mallory McMorrow voiced the party's frustration on CNN Friday: "First of all, I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing."

The stakes are larger than one state's feelings. El-Sayed faces Rogers in a race the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates a toss-up, in a midterm where control of the Senate turns on a handful of states. Sunday's Detroit appearance - two former rivals, one church, one shared stage - is now both a turnout event and a test of whether the argument travels with them onto it.