El-Sayed Campaign Asks Haley Stevens to Stay Away as Michigan Democrats' Unity Push Falls Apart

Michigan Democrats wanted one last show of unity before Tuesday. What they got instead was a public feud between their Senate nominee and the woman he barely beat.

Abdul El-Sayed's campaign asked Rep. Haley Stevens to skip remaining campaign events, a source told CNN, after Politico first reported the request. It puts in doubt a Sunday appearance at a Detroit church with Rep. Jim Clyburn, which was meant to showcase the party coming together. It would have been her first event with El-Sayed since the August primary, which he won by less than one percentage point. Stevens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rupture began Friday over an outside group's ad blaming American aid to Israel for the economic struggles of Americans. Stevens issued a statement pressing El-Sayed to condemn it. He hit back that night, saying she "seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago."

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, another former rival, then jumped in on CNN and sided against Stevens, urging Democrats to focus on the stakes.

The fight goes straight to the fault line that has followed El-Sayed all year. He is a vocal critic of Israel's actions in Gaza and of U.S. military support, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent heavily against him in the primary. Democrats now face questions about whether Jewish voters in Michigan will turn out for him.

It is a gift to Republican Mike Rogers, who is trying to flip an open seat that could help decide control of the Senate. While Democrats argue over who can stand on a stage together, Rogers gets to close his campaign watching them do it. For voters who care about America's alliance with Israel, the contrast could hardly be clearer.