US midterms 2026: Michigan Democrats thought they had made peace. Then Haley Stevens renewed clash with Abdul El-Sayed

What appeared to be a reconciliation between feuding Michigan Democrats on Thursday night quickly unravelled by Friday morning, as Representative Haley Stevens renewed her criticism of Democratic Senate nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Stevens had announced that she would campaign alongside El-Sayed over the weekend, seemingly putting aside the public disagreements that followed their bitter primary contest. However, less than a day later, she issued another statement outlining several demands ahead of their planned joint appearance.

Stevens said she expected El-Sayed to apologize for his remarks about Israel and disavow an advertisement from an outside group that she characterized as antisemitic. She also urged him to remove a campaign advertisement featuring conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. “Abdul promises to get money out of politics,” Stevens said in the statement. “He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”

The latest disagreement has added to an increasingly complicated relationship between El-Sayed and Stevens, drawing in several prominent Democrats, including Representatives Debbie Dingell of Michigan and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, one of the most influential African American members of Congress. The dispute has created further uncertainty during the final week of a Senate race that could influence control of the chamber, prompting concerns among Democrats that internal divisions could hurt the party as Election Day approaches.

Stevens, a centrist who lost to El-Sayed by less than one percentage point in the contentious August primary, has not appeared publicly alongside him during the final stretch of the campaign, despite pledging during the summer to support his candidacy. Instead, she has made several television appearances in which she questioned El-Sayed’s efforts to reach Black and Jewish voters.

Her fiancé, a Jewish Democrat, said on Wednesday that he was supporting Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers. That same day, Stevens announced that she would not campaign alongside El-Sayed before Tuesday’s election. The developments frustrated Representative Debbie Dingell, a prominent member of Michigan’s congressional delegation.

Dingell said she subsequently contacted both El-Sayed and Stevens, urging them to campaign together alongside Clyburn. By Thursday, a joint appearance featuring El-Sayed, Stevens and Clyburn had been arranged for Sunday at a Black church in Detroit. Stevens described the gathering as a ‘souls to the polls’ event.

“I’m the one that made this happen,” Dingell said, adding that the central issue was that El-Sayed and Stevens weren’t talking. After she intervened, “They said, OK,” she recalled. “It was that simple,” she said. However, the relationship between the two former primary rivals remains complicated.

Also Read: Did Donald Trump and Javier Milei help Flavio Bolsonaro escape Brazil? Senator's secret flight to Florida sparks political controversy

Even after agreeing to appear with El-Sayed, Stevens suggested that her participation was connected to an expected concession from him. She also sought another commitment. In her statement, Stevens said she understood that El-Sayed would distance himself from the advertisement released by Rebellion PAC, a left-wing political action committee. She added that party leaders and media reports had informed her of the expected move. “That is why I accepted Congressman Clyburn’s invitation to appear with Abdul,” Stevens said.

The advertisement, which takes place inside a grocery store, suggests that American assistance to Israel contributes to rising prices in the United States. In the commercial, a shopper tells another customer not to purchase eggs because we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians. Stevens argued that the advertisement was not making an entirely new argument but was promoting a position she believed El-Sayed had already expressed during his campaign.

She said the candidate should therefore apologize for those remarks. “I therefore expect him to apologize,” she said. Cenk Uygur, founder of Rebellion PAC, disputed Stevens’s interpretation of the advertisement, arguing that it targeted the Israeli government rather than Jewish Americans. However, Uygur said he would have no objection if El-Sayed publicly rejected the commercial. “He’s running a campaign,” Uygur said. “I’m running a PAC. He can say whatever he wants. I’m OK with it. We don’t speak with each other.”

Stevens also called on El-Sayed to withdraw a campaign advertisement featuring Carlson and other conservative figures discussing the Senate race. Carlson, who has frequently promoted conspiracy theories and has said white supremacy is “not a real problem” in America, has criticized Rogers and defended El-Sayed’s position on US foreign policy. Stevens argued that El-Sayed should remove the advertisement out of respect for Michigan’s Black community.

It remained unclear whether Stevens and El-Sayed had communicated directly about the latest disagreements. Clyburn, who endorsed Stevens during the Democratic primary, declined to discuss the arrangements for Sunday's appearance but confirmed that he had spoken with Dingell. “I don’t know who else she talked to,” he said. “But she did talk to me.”

Clyburn's involvement comes as El-Sayed attempts to ease tensions between Black and Arab American voters in the Detroit area. At the same time, he faces reservations among some Jewish Democrats who have objected to his strong criticism of Israel. In late August, El-Sayed apologized to a group of Jewish Democrats for using the phrase 'hurt people hurt people' following an attack on a synagogue near Detroit.

“Nobody deserves to have their pain trampled on,” he said in his apology. The primary contest between El-Sayed and Stevens was marked by personal disagreements, with Israel emerging as a major issue. El-Sayed, pointing to Stevens's support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, once said the organization had chosen to back the least capable candidate in America.

Stevens, in turn, accused El-Sayed of wanting to blame his problems on Jewish Americans. Following his primary victory, El-Sayed received Stevens's endorsement, and the two appeared together at a unity breakfast. At the time, Stevens said the party had a ‘good ticket going’ and was united. However, her fiancé, Jason Turkish, said on Wednesday that he continued to be disappointed that El-Sayed had not appeared alongside Stevens at a news conference the day after the primary. Instead, he had joined Mallory McMorrow, another candidate who withdrew from the race in July and finished a distant third.