Michigan Democrat El-Sayed pushes to move past Stevens defection in Senate race

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – Senate candidate Abdoul El-Sayed and their fellow Michigan Democrats rushed Monday to refocus their attention on voter turnout on Election Day. After his former primary rival stunned the party by endorsing the republican candidate in one of the most watched races in the country.

The final push before Tuesday’s midterms followed a dramatic Sunday, when Rep. Haley Stevens supported Republican Mike Rogers after appearing alongside him at church. That led to his expulsion from the state Democratic Party and drew fierce condemnation from party leaders and longtime allies.

El-Sayed made no mention of the controversy during an event Monday morning at Eastern Michigan University, instead emphasizing that his campaign was about voters, not himself. When asked afterward what he would say to supporters worried about the impact of Stevens’ support on the race, El-Sayed had a simple message: “Go vote.”

“There is only one thing we can do to control the outcome,” he added. He was joined at Monday’s rally by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and his grandparents, who greeted the crowd.

With more than 2.3 million Michigan voters having already sunk their ballots on Monday, the question is whether this extraordinary political drama will matter to those who have not yet voted. Nearly 4.5 million people voted in the 2022 midterm elections. The state’s regular in-person early voting period ended Sunday, with polling places reopening across the state Tuesday.

“Well, about half the people have already voted,” said Lori Goldman, a longtime Democratic organizer in Oakland County, a party stronghold near Detroit. “But for the rest, it could be quite important.”

Voters react: “Shocking, surprising”

Associated Press reporters spoke to voters across Stevens’ congressional district Monday to get their reactions. Stevens primarily represents Oakland County, home to West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak and a large Jewish population.

Derryl Reed, who lives in Stevens’ district and voted for her in the primary, even participating in her election watchdog party, said he was disappointed.

“I see this mobilizing people to support Abdul more because they are so upset,” Reed said. “She went back on her word.”

Cassaundra Sims, a 62-year-old West Bloomfield resident who has voted for Stevens in the past, described her reaction to Rogers’ endorsement as “shocking, surprising and, frankly, disappointing.”

“By being there to support him, she made it clear to us that she’s not for us and she’s not someone we can trust,” Sims, who is black, said of Stevens’ past support from the black community.

Brian Butler of Bloomfield Hills, who already voted but declined to say for whom, said he thought “Haley did the right thing.”

“I think the Jewish people were treated terribly and she was not going to stand for it,” he said.

Rogers and Republican Party tout Stevens support

For Rogers and the Republicans, this endorsement represented a remarkable political coup. Rogers personally contacted Stevens this weekend, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. Even Rogers’ own staff was unaware of the planned joint appearance at Perfecting Church until Sunday morning and only learned of Stevens’ endorsement when it was posted online, the person said. The campaign touted voter support Monday.

For the Democrats, the defection revealed persistent divisions against El-Sayed, who narrowly beat Stevens in a bruising primary marked by disagreements over Israel and the Gaza war. Party leaders had spent the final weeks of the campaign trying to consolidate support for El-Sayed, particularly among Jewish and black voters who had strongly supported Stevens.

These leaders chastised Stevens and said it would only energize their base. El-Sayed reported raising $2.4 million on Sunday, his biggest fundraising day of the campaign, while the state party said it saw a surge of people volunteering to knock on doors.

“I don’t think it changes the election results other than it galvanizes Democrats,” Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel said.

Stevens is chastised by former supporters and critics

For months, Michigan Democrats were divided over which candidate to support in the August primary, when El-Sayed beat Stevens by about 14,000 votes. But in the weeks that followed, many rallied behind El-Sayed as the party’s candidate.

Goldman, who supported Stevens during her first congressional campaign and has known her for a decade, said she was shocked by the change of heart.

“I think she wasted a career that was important,” Goldman said. “I’m stunned. And I’m a little heartbroken for her.”

Debbie Rosenman, who leads two Democratic organizations in southeast Michigan, an area Stevens has partially represented in Congress for years, said the endorsement left local Democrats feeling betrayed.

“What I hear is fury,” Rosenman said. “They are just furious with her and feel betrayed by her.”

Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist who has supported Stevens and has been so critical of El-Sayed that he plans to leave the Senate race empty, said the congresswoman’s endorsement had nothing to do with their political differences: “If it was, she would have done it a month ago.” »

“It’s colossally stupid. But it has nothing to do with the substance. It has to do with the personal animosity between these two,” Hemond said.

A timeline of the Democrats’ fall

Shortly after her primary defeat, Stevens endorsed El-Sayed, saying she would do “anything he wants me to do” on the campaign trail. But she remained absent from the campaign trail for months, which became increasingly visible as Jewish leaders criticized El-Sayed.

El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of Israel and has been criticized for a statement in which he said “hurt people, hurt people” after an attack on a synagogue and for appearing with streamer Hasan Piker in the electoral campaign.

These controversies largely preceded Stevens’ support for El-Sayed. He has since apologized for his comments following the synagogue attack and has no longer appeared with Piker. But Stevens and some Jewish leaders argued that he had not done enough to address their concerns. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, said last week he would vote for Rogers.

Tensions came to a head during a unity event planned for Sunday, featuring Stevens and El-Sayed. After their public spats over Israel and an outside group’s campaign advertising threatened to overshadow the rally, Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior Michigan Democrat close to Stevens, said she did not invite the congresswoman because the conflict had become “distracting.”

Dingell and other Democrats said Stevens repeatedly reassured them that the dispute would not lead him to withdraw his support for El-Sayed.

Few people predicted what would happen Sunday morning, when Stevens sat next to Rogers at church and announced her support for the Republican shortly after.

“It’s about Abdul getting angrier and angrier and saying, ‘I don’t want these people in my campaign,'” Stevens later said in a CNN interview. “It’s a weight off my shoulders.”

Dingell, visibly shaken in a CNN interview afterward, called Stevens’ remarks “one of the most painful interviews I’ve watched” and said she had worried about the congresswoman all week.

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Associated Press reporter Mike Householder contributed to this report from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Cappelletti reported from Washington.