‘Either Way Israel Will Win’: Abdul El-Sayed Likens Opponent to Republican Candidate over Support of Israel

Campaign funding and tax returns became a central question in the Michigan Democratic debate between Abdul El-Sayed and Congresswoman Haley Stevens on Tuesday night, as the pair went back and forth in their first one-on-one debate following State Senator Mallory McMorrow’s departure from the race.

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El-Sayed took issue with Stevens’s receipt of funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), saying that a vote for Stevens is akin to a vote for Mike Rogers, Michigan’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Stevens said she supports a two-state solution in the region.

“If either Congresswoman Stevens makes it, or Mike Rogers wins, either way Israel will win,” El-Sayed said. “AIPAC is perfectly fine with either of my two opponents because they know they will have a comfortable, reliable vote in the U.S. Senate.”

Stevens pushed back, noting that El-Sayed has so far refused to release his tax returns. He is currently the only Michigan Senate candidate who has not released his personal financial disclosure. Stevens repeatedly returned to the question of El-Sayed’s finances, requesting that he provide full transparency to voters.

“Abdul, you talk about getting money out of politics and putting money in people’s pockets. But who is putting money in yours? What are you hiding?” Stevens asked.

While El-Sayed refused to directly answer the question, he centered his attacks on Stevens’s support of Israel. El-Sayed has repeatedly been hammered throughout the campaign season for his antisemitic comments. He has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel, claiming that the country commits genocide, and he hesitates to affirm that the Jewish state has a right to exist.

The question of Israel is consequential in Michigan, given that the state houses the largest and densest population of Arab Americans in the City of Dearborn. Moreover, Jewish people experienced a terrorist attack at a synagogue in Michigan in March, which the FBI described as “inspired by Hezbollah’s militant ideology.”

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El-Sayed continued to assert that Stevens is bought by Israel, claiming that her campaign has received $40 million in outside contributions. Stevens, however, said that “no one owns” her vote and that all contributions to her campaign are the result of her “proven record of fighting for Michigan.”

Eventually, the question of the Democratic Party’s increasingly progressive politics arose, which many think has isolated the party’s more moderate members. Although the Democratic Socialists of America have not officially endorsed El-Sayed, the group has “already shifted organizers, volunteers and resources” toward Michigan leading up to the primary at the end of the summer, DSA officials told Politico. Far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently endorsed El-Sayed, which, notably, was her first Senate endorsement of the campaign season.

El-Sayed said he will take his “own path of leadership,” ostensibly distancing himself from the Democratic Party establishment, of which his opponent is a part.

According to a recent Quantus Insight poll, El-Sayed leads Stevens by five points. This Michigan Senate seat remains crucial for Democrats, as they hope to overcome Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections and secure a majority in Congress.

The Michigan primary is set for August 4, when El-Sayed and Stevens will face off to see who will run against Rogers in November.

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