El-Sayed campaign wants Stevens to stay away after day of back-and-forth sniping

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN — Michigan's Democratic coalition is fragmenting in real time days before a critical Senate election.

After it seemed like former primary rivals Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens might finally appear together, they’re back to sniping at each other. And it could hardly come at a worse moment as Democrats look to unite behind El-Sayed and hold on to a pivotal Senate seat.

El-Sayed’s campaign is asking Stevens to stay away from all future campaign events in the closing days of the race, two people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive campaign dynamics, told POLITICO.

She should stay away “as not to distract from the central issues of the campaign,” one of the people said.

The brushoff capped a day of the two lobbing increasingly pointed statements back and forth at each other, frustrating Democrats who say the infighting risks imperiling a state the party can hardly afford to lose as they try to flip control of the Senate.

“I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who was squeezed out of the Democratic primary by the two other candidates, told CNN earlier on Friday, before El-Sayed issued his response. “People are not talking about ads. They are not talking about Haley Stevens. They are talking about the price of gas and groceries.”

Stevens did not immediately respond to a question on if she will now stay off the trail, and did not respond to an earlier question about whether her appearance was contingent on him apologizing. El-Sayed’s campaign declined to comment.

El-Sayed narrowly defeated Stevens in a bitter and hard-fought primary in August that exposed division over support for Israel. The seat now held by the retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is crucial to Democratic hopes to take control of the Senate.

Stevens and El Sayed have not campaigned together since a post-primary unity breakfast, but appeared on the verge of doing so earlier on Friday.

Stevens initially said she would appear alongside El-Sayed and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn at a church in Detroit on Sunday.

But she said she expected the Democratic nominee to apologize for some of his past comments and condemn an ad run by an outside group supporting him that she described as antisemitic. The ad featured a conversation in a grocery store where a woman told a man they couldn't buy eggs because they had to set aside money for “killing Palestinians.” El-Sayed’s campaign had previously noted he was not affiliated with the ad.

In response, El-Sayed did not touch on the ad or his past comments on Israel, instead saying that his campaign “has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing” and that that focus “is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70 [million] in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens.”

“So while Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago, let’s all focus on the task at hand: that’s beating Mike Rogers,” El-Sayed said.

Privately, Democrats are frustrated — some with Stevens.

“Every Democrat was singing the same tune but now, because one person is tone deaf, the whole choir is thrown off,” said a Michigan Democratic operative who is not directly working for El-Sayed’s campaign.

Some Democrats tried to downplay the fight heading into the final days of the race.

“There’s been a lot of efforts to coalesce Democrats, both from Abdul and from the congresswoman. I think everybody's on the same page of Democrats just beating Mike Rogers," said Joe Tate, a state representative from Detroit who supported Stevens in the primary and is now backing El-Sayed. But he acknowledged that "when you have people that have competed through a primary, I know it can always have those lingering effects."

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged Democrats to come together to support El-Sayed.

“I've never met somebody who I agree with on 100 percent of everything,” Buttigieg told reporters while campaigning in the state for House candidate Callie Barr on Friday. “But when our health care is at stake, when a chance to have a more affordable everyday life is at stake, the choice is clear: Mike Rogers has disqualified himself.”

Republicans have sought to play up the Democratic divisions. Rogers, in a Friday evening post on X, called Stevens a “courageous leader” and said she was “absolutely right” to call on El-Sayed to apologize.

“I agree with her and my campaign is about being there, showing up and defending these communities and all Michiganders,” Rogers said.

President Donald Trump, at a Friday night rally in Daytona, Florida, had a characteristically blunt message: "If you're Black, or if you're Jewish, and you vote for Abdul, you're not smart,” he said.

Stevens’ comments so close to the pivotal election left some Democrats wondering what her goal was.

“If you are someone with a large platform — whether you are, say, an outgoing member of Congress or an out-of-state streamer — who genuinely wants Abdul El-Sayed to become the next U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan and for Democrats to take back the Senate and put a meaningful check on Donald Trump, before you speak publicly I would implore you to ask yourself ‘is what I’m doing actually helping, or am I just seeking attention?’,” Democratic operative Adam Carlson, who has polled for a pro El-Sayed super PAC, wrote on X.

Sophia Cai contributed to this report.