The campaign for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in the state of Michigan, has asked Congresswoman Haley Stevens, a fellow Democrat whom he had beaten in the primary, to not attend any of his campaign rallies.
The news was originally broken by POLITICO and has now been picked up by multiple national outlets, such as NBC News.
The rift between the two Democrats in The Wolverine State stems from one of the hot issues of today’s American politics: their respective relations to Israel. Stevens was reportedly upset with El-Sayed that he has not disowned a campaign ad by an outside progressive group which blames the high cost of gas and groceries on the Jewish state. She has also criticized El-Sayed publicly for featuring right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson in his ads. Carlson has broken from the Republican Party over the Iran war, and is now supporting the Democratic candidate in Michigan.
In response, El-Sayed went on the offensive himself. In a post published on X on Friday, 30 October, he accused Stevens of being ‘intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago’.
El-Sayed is currently leading his Republican opposition Mike Rodgers by 3.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. However, he was heavily overpolled in his primary race, thus he may be cautious about letting his polling lead give him too much comfort.
All of the last five polls released before the 4 August primary gave him a double-digit lead. With one survey which gave him ‘only’ a seven-point advantage from early July, the RCP average on election day showed him ahead of Stevens by 10.2 points, yet he only won by one—that is a 9.2-point miss in his direction.
The dubious polling in the Michigan primary has come up again recently.
Wedgewood Polls, a new polling firm releasing their first datasets in this election cycle, has admitted to completely fabricating their numbers. They claimed to be a ‘social experiment’ showing how easily unscrupulous polling can get media coverage from major outlets.
Their survey from June 2026 showed El-Sayed in the lead with 46 per cent, Stevens in second with 39 per cent, and State Senator Mallory McMorrow with just nine per cent. When the Wedgewood hoax story broke, McMorrow put out a public statement, claiming that it was this poll that demoralized her campaign staff and volunteers so much that she ultimately decided to end her campaign a month before the primary.
With control of the United States Senate potentially hanging in the balance, Democrats can hardly afford a prolonged internal feud in Michigan. It is the only Senate seat currently held by a Democrat that is considered a ‘battleground race’ in this midterm election.
UPDATE: Haley Stevens Endorses Mike Rogers
Democrat Haley Stevens announced that she will be voting for Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday,1 November.
At a joint press conference, she told all that, ‘My vote for Senate is gonna be with Mike Rogers. And I’ll tell you why. Because we have to stand with [the] country. We can’t stand with hate. We can’t stand with Hasan Piker…Today, in a moment of faith, tied to my faith.’
Related articles:
At a time when public debate is increasingly polarized and superficial, Hungarian Conservative remains committed to depth, intellectual honesty, and independent conservative thought.
Producing high-quality journalism requires resources. Your contribution helps us expand our coverage, reach new audiences, and keep our content accessible.
Please consider supporting our mission.