2026 Election Live Updates: Trump reverses course on Kansas, Iowa rallies ahead of midterm elections

Less than 24 hours later, she received another message. In a statement promoting her intention to join Dr. El-Sayed on the campaign trail, she said she expected Dr. El-Sayed to apologize for comments he made about Israel and that she hoped he would disavow what she described as an anti-Semitic ad from an outside group. She also asked him to remove an ad from his campaign featuring Tucker Carlson.

“Abdul promises to get money out of politics,” Ms. Stevens said in the statement. “He can start by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan can’t afford. »

The statement marks the latest twist in an unusual and tense dance between Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens, which has involved a growing circle of Democrats, including Reps. Debbie Dingell and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, one of the highest-ranking African-Americans in Congress.

Those frictions have added turbulence to the final week of a race that could determine control of the Senate, sparking concerns within the party that divisions could be costly as Election Day approaches.

Dr. El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ms. Stevens, a centrist who lost to Dr. El-Sayed by less than a percentage point in a bitter August primary, was not seen publicly with Dr. El-Sayed in the final stretch of the race, although she pledged over the summer to campaign with him.

Instead, Ms. Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel, made a series of television news appearances in which she questioned its approach to black and Jewish voters.

Her fiancé, a Jewish Democrat, said Wednesday that he supports Dr. El-Sayed’s opponent, Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate. The same day, Ms Stevens said she would not campaign with Dr El-Sayed ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Wednesday’s events left Ms. Dingell, head of the party’s congressional delegation in Michigan, frustrated.

So, she said, she called Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens and told them they should campaign with Mr. Clyburn, South Carolina’s Democratic power broker.

On Thursday, a joint appearance by Dr. El-Sayed, Ms. Stevens and Mr. Clyburn was scheduled for Sunday at a black church in Detroit. Ms Stevens described the rally as a “call to the polls” event.

“I was the one who made this happen,” Ms. Dingell said, adding that the problem was that Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens “weren’t talking.” When pressed by Ms. Dingell, “They said, OK,” she recalled.

“It was that simple,” she said.

But the dynamic between Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens is not simple.

And even though Ms. Stevens agreed to join Dr. El-Sayed, she suggested that her appearance was the product of an upcoming concession from Dr. El-Sayed — and sought to extract another.

In her statement, she said she understood that Dr. El-Sayed would disavow advertising from an outside group – a left-wing political action committee called Rebellion PAC – adding that she had heard about the plans from party leaders and the media. “That’s why I accepted Congressman Clyburn’s invitation to appear with Abdul,” Ms. Stevens said.

The ad, placed in a grocery store, suggests that U.S. aid to Israel is causing U.S. prices to rise. It shows a customer telling a man not to buy eggs because “we have to save these $7 to kill Palestinians.”

Ms. Stevens argued in her statement that the ad “did not invent its argument” but made one that she said Dr. El-Sayed made during the election campaign. “So I expect him to apologize,” she said.

In her statement, Ms. Stevens also called on Dr. El-Sayed to remove an ad from his campaign featuring Mr. Carlson and other conservative figures weighing in on the race. Mr Carlson, who has frequently espoused conspiracy theories and said white supremacy was “not a real problem” in America, spoke out against Mr Rogers and defended Dr El-Sayed’s criticism of US foreign policy. Ms. Stevens said Dr. El-Sayed should pull the ad out of “respect for Michigan’s black community.”

It was not clear whether Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed had any direct communication.

Mr. Clyburn, who supported Ms. Stevens in the primary, said he would not discuss planning for Sunday’s event but acknowledged that he had spoken with Ms. Dingell.

“I don’t know who else she talked to,” he said. “But she spoke to me.”

Mr. Clyburn’s arrival comes as Dr. El-Sayed tries to overcome tensions between black and Arab American voters in the Detroit area.

He also faces skepticism from some Jewish Democrats, who object to his harsh criticism of Israel. In late August, he apologized to a group of Jewish Democrats for using a phrase in March — “hurt people, hurt people” — after an attack on a synagogue near Detroit.

“No one deserves to have their pain trampled on,” he said in his apology.

The primary race between Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens was personal and heavily focused on Israel. Dr. El-Sayed, highlighting Ms. Stevens’ support from the U.S.-Israel Public Affairs Committee, once said the group had chosen to support the “least capable candidate in America.” Ms Stevens said Dr El-Sayed wanted to blame his “problems on American Jews”.

After Dr. El-Sayed’s victory, Ms. Stevens quickly supported him and they appeared together at a unity breakfast. She said the party had “a good ticket” and was united.

But her fiancé, Jason Turkish, said Wednesday that he remained disappointed months later that Dr. El-Sayed did not appear with Ms. Stevens at a news conference the day after the primary, and instead joined Mallory McMorrow, another candidate who dropped out of the race in July and finished a distant third.