Abdul El-Sayed campaign asks Haley Stevens not to attend campaign events following clashes over Israel

It appears Rep. Haley Stevens, Democrat of Michigan, will no longer attend a campaign event she planned to participate in on Sunday alongside Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, after days of public wrangling over their positions on Israel.

A notice for the rally sent Saturday by El-Sayed’s campaign did not list Stevens as an attendee, only El-Sayed and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

Stevens is being asked not to attend El-Sayed’s campaign events in the final days because the campaign is concerned about distractions around her, a person familiar with the decision told NBC News. Politico was first to report that Stevens was no longer welcome at El-Sayed events.

Stevens did not immediately respond to a phone call and text message seeking comment. She told The New York Times on Friday that she still planned to vote for El-Sayed, who defeated her in the Senate primary in August, despite his criticism.

Days before they were to headline the rally in Detroit, El-Sayed and the congresswoman exchanged critical messages in statements released Friday, escalating tensions between the two in the latest stretch of El-Sayed’s campaign for Senate.

Stevens said she expected El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who defeated her in a bitter Democratic primary in August, to formally condemn an ​​ad from an outside progressive group that she called anti-Semitic, adding that’s why she agreed to join El-Sayed on the campaign trail for the first time on Sunday.

“This ad tells Michigan families that they can’t afford groceries because their money must be put aside to ‘kill Palestinians,’ and it blames our close ally Israel for everything that Michiganders can’t afford,” Stevens said in a statement.

She sought to link the ad — which takes place in a grocery store and suggests that Israel and the war in Gaza are a burden on American taxpayers — to comments El-Sayed made in his own campaign.

“So I expect him to also apologize for those statements,” Stevens said. “Abdul promises to get money out of politics. He can start by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan can’t afford.”

El-Sayed is not affiliated with the group that produced the ad, Rebellion PAC, and his campaign distanced itself from the ad in statements to the New York Times earlier this week.

Stevens also called on El-Sayed to remove one of his own ads featuring right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson “out of equal respect for Michigan’s black community.”

El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, responded Friday, saying in a statement that Stevens, a strong supporter of Israel, “seems determined to revive a primary that ended three months ago” and that his campaign was focused on affordability and health care.

“This focus is why our grassroots campaign defeated a historic $70 million in outside spending from big business and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens,” El-Sayed said, referring to Stevens’ support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, during the primary.

The exchange comes after the former primary opponents apparently reached a reconciliation, agreeing to appear at an event in Detroit on Sunday alongside Clyburn, a senior Democratic leader. The escalation also plays out four days before voters choose between El-Sayed and Republican nominee Mike Rogers to be Michigan’s next senator in a race that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report considers a toss-up.

On Saturday morning, Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, told “Fox & Friends” that he wasn’t sure if the congresswoman still planned to campaign alongside El-Sayed on Sunday.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know where it stands Saturday morning,” he said.

Turkish added: “Haley has made it clear to anyone who will listen that she remains on Team Dem. That her only request, small request, was to say that we don’t blame all of society’s high costs on one group of people.”

On Wednesday, Stevens gave an interview on CNN in which she signaled she would vote for El-Sayed while calling on him to denounce the Rebellion PAC ad. This interview took place shortly after Turkish told the Detroit News he was voting for Rogers.

“Of course I’m voting for our Democratic Senate candidate,” Stevens said. “I’m voting Democratic. But I want to encourage this campaign to stop the hate, denounce it, and make sure my coalition members feel comfortable going to the polls.”

Tensions between El-Sayed and Stevens have drawn in other Michigan Democrats as the party hopes to secure a crucial Senate seat in the race for control of Congress.

“First of all, I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said on CNN on Friday. “This is a moment where we need to recognize what’s at stake.”

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, a prominent member of Michigan’s delegation, sought to downplay the conflict on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” saying Friday that she helped organize the event Sunday with Clyburn, who is close to Stevens.

“I think, frankly, a lot of people are trying to create more controversy here, when I think the real debate should be about what’s happening in Washington and how we need to resist what we’ve seen over the last two years,” Dingell said.