With less than a week remaining until Election Day, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) committed to campaigning with her former rival, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed.
El Sayed and Stevens fought one of the most bitter Democratic primaries of the 2026 cycle, pitting the progressive wing of the party against the establishment-favored Stevens, with the former vision prevailing. Stevens largely stayed out of public view following her defeat, a pattern she’s going to break in the campaign’s final stretch with a joint appearance alongside her former rival.
Stevens and el Sayed will make their first public appearance together in months alongside Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) at a Detroit church for a get-out-the-vote effort, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
The event marks a sudden switch from rhetoric bordering on hostile from Stevens, who told CNN on Wednesday that his campaign needed to “shut out the hate and call it out,” and that el Sayed’s campaign needs to reach out to her coalition and “make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls.” She clarified that she would be voting for el Sayed.
Shortly before her appearance, Stevens’s fiance, Jason Turkish, told the Detroit News that he would be voting for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over el Sayed.
Though the joint appearance would mark a breakthrough for el Sayed, who has struggled with the Jewish and black voters that made up Stevens’s base, the Senate candidate was dismissive when asked about it. He replied that “we’re always trying to unify the party,” and that they were only just appearing together now due to busy schedules. He then took a swipe at the reporter, saying “nobody cares” about squabbles within the party when the cost of living is high.
While Stevens has spent much of the campaign since her defeat voicing cautious concern, Turkish let loose on Wednesday in denouncing his fiance’s former rival. He said that while Stevens had “opened her heart” to el Sayed, the goodwill wasn’t returned.
“And I waited and I watched and I listened for Abdul to moderate. But he didn’t moderate, he escalated. He got worse,” Turkish told reporters, adding that comments such as claiming Israel was committing “genocide” had driven voters away.
Turkish then bashed el Sayed for his hesitance to denounce an ad from an independent left-wing group supporting him that linked support with Israel with higher grocery prices, characterizing the ad as saying “Jews are to blame for the price of bananas,” which he felt made the community “less safe.”
HALEY STEVENS’S DEMOCRATIC FIANCE BACKS MIKE ROGERS, SAYS EL SAYED IMPERILS JEWISH COMMUNITY
He also condemned el Sayed’s handling of inflammatory left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, and hostility towards reporters who asked him about it, calling Piker a “hateful, hateful man.” El Sayed, Turkish concluded, is “100% disqualified to be a United States senator.”
The Michigan Senate race is one of the tightest and most-watched in the country. RealClearPolitics‘s average of recent polls has El Sayed slightly ahead by 3.2 points, almost within the typical margin of error.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
