SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
haley stevens
For Backstabbing El-Sayed, Progressives in Michigan Demand ‘Capricious’ Haley Stevens Be Expelled From Democratic Party
"As a constituent of Haley Stevens, I am appalled that she’s left residents of the 11th Congressional District high and dry."
Nov 10, 2026
Progressives are demanding that Rep. Haley Stevens be expelled from the Democratic Party over the Michigan Democrat's last-minute decision to rescind her endorsement of Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed.
Just two days before the 2026 midterm elections, Stevens announced that she was supporting Republican Mike Rogers in the US Senate race in Michigan, despite pledging to back El-Sayed after he defeated her in the state's Democratic primary months earlier.
Stevens' surprise endorsement of Rogers led to a mass staff exodus, including her longtime chief of staff. Politico reported that Stevens had been spotted in the Republicans' cloakroom in the US House of Representatives on Monday, and her office door was locked throughout the day.
Levi Teitel, communications director of Progress Michigan, said Stevens' actions merited her being forced out of the Democratic Party.
"As a constituent of Haley Stevens, I am appalled that she’s left residents of the 11th Congressional District high and dry," said Teitel. "Her capriciousness is what’s led to this: flipping to Rogers just two days before polls opened on Election Day without thinking through how she would be able to represent her constituents in her last few weeks in office."
Stevens is still representing her district until January 3, 2027, when Rep.-elect Jeremy Moss (D-Mich.) is slated to take over.
Regardless, Teitel said Stevens' actions are "nothing short of a dereliction of duty," adding that House Democrats "have a responsibility to hold Rep. Stevens accountable and expel her from the caucus."
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is also leaving Congress next year after a 40-year career, cautioned her party against expelling Stevens while speaking with reporters on Tuesday.
"We have about... two more weeks of being in the Congress," said Pelosi, "so I don’t think we should start making judgments about anybody in the caucus at this point."
Nancy Pelosi on Kicking Haley Stevens Out of the Caucus:We have a few more weeks of being in Congress, so I don’t think we should start making judgments about anybody in the caucus at this point.I was disappointed. I conveyed that to her. I want to be helpful to her in terms of how she deals with this, but I’m not supporting kicking her out.Let’s focus on the very positive
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 10, 2026
The California Democrat added that she was "disappointed" in Stevens for endorsing Rogers, but emphasized that she's "not supporting kicking her out of the caucus."
Critics of Pelosi, however, found her position unconvincing and a testament to the failure of Establishment wing of the party that has long been hostile to progressives and accommodating to figures like Stevens.
“Pelosi refusing to kick Haley Stevens out of the caucus because ‘there’s only a few weeks left’ is everything people hate about DC,” said journalist Saad Abedine, in response to the former speaker’s remarks. “Zero accountability, total protection for insiders, and a smile telling us to ‘focus on the positive.’ Utterly absurd.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Two Registered Agents of Israel Are Working for Mike Rogers’ Senate Campaign
One journalist suggested that in order to understand AIPAC-backed Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens' sudden flip to support Rogers, it is worth "following the money into foreign interests."
Nov 02, 2026
When Democratic US Rep. Haley Stevens announced her stunning flip to endorse Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday, she did so with two registered agents of the Israeli government standing behind her, according to a report from Drop Site News.
The person who opened the press conference outside a Detroit church was Abigail Ronson, a spokesperson for the Rogers campaign, whom Drop Site found had registered as an agent working on behalf of the Israeli government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) on May 18, 2026.
The registration lists Ronson as a part-time contractor for Clock Tower X, a communications company owned by Brad Parscale, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump.
In May, Responsible Statecraft and The Intercept reported that through Clock Tower X, Parscale has run a multimillion-dollar operation funded by the Israeli government aimed at influencing American public opinion, which has turned dramatically against Israel amid its genocidal assault on Gaza and systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.
This campaign reportedly involves producing and distributing pro-Israel content aimed at younger Americans, particularly conservatives and evangelical Christians, creating articles meant to influence artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude to give answers favorable to Israeli narratives, and conducting text messaging campaigns to direct Americans toward pro-Israel content.
Ronson, who works for the Republican consulting firm Convergence Media, was one of 14 employees at the firm working on Parscale’s pro-Israel influence operation. Convergence’s chief of staff, Jesse Stokes—who registered as an agent of Israel in October 2025—is also part of the Rogers campaign. The campaign has separately paid millions of dollars to Convergence.
Both Ronson and Stokes have been involved in campaign activities. Ronson helped organize the launch of the astroturfed "Democrats for Mike Rogers" campaign, an alleged "grassroots" coalition of Democratic voters who said they supported Rogers over his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed. The funding for the initiative overwhelmingly came from Republican-aligned sources, as well as Rogers' own campaign, and many of the supposed "Democrats" had long-standing GOP ties, according to a previous Drop Site investigation.
Stokes has no official title with the Rogers campaign. But metadata reviewed by Drop Site shows that he wrote the email launching Rogers' Senate campaign in March 2025, about seven months before he registered as an Israeli agent. Since then, he is shown to have written numerous other press releases for the campaign.
In June, after Ronson posted an AI-generated image of a “buff” Mike Rogers on social media, the campaign denied that she was a staffer. But she’s since acted as an official voice of the campaign in comments to several media outlets, including Reuters, Fox News, and The New York Times. In those comments, she defended Rogers’ attacks on El-Sayed’s Muslim background and accused the Democrat of fueling “anti-Israel hate.”
On Sunday, before Stevens (D-Mich.) suddenly abandoned her months of support for El-Sayed to back Rogers, Ronson told NBC News that “Mike welcomes her.”
Questions about the influence of the Israeli government and pro-Israel donors have hung over Michigan's Senate race since it began. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent an unprecedented $30 million in a failed effort to help Stevens defeat El-Sayed in August's Democratic primary, the pro-Israel lobbying group's single largest expenditure ever in a congressional race.
Israel was also at the center of Stevens’ widely reviled decision to flip against El-Sayed less than 48 hours before Election Day. After months of expressing support for her primary rival, Stevens called on El-Sayed to denounce an advertisement by an outside political action committee that blamed rising grocery prices on US support for Israel, which helped to push Trump toward launching a war with Iran. She also called on him to take back other critical statements he’d made about Israel.
Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, an outspoken pro-Israel Democrat, announced last week that he’d be supporting Rogers and appeared at a Republican Jewish Coalition event with Rogers and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). He also accused El-Sayed of fueling “death threats” against Jewish Americans by describing Israel’s conduct in Gaza as a “genocide,” a description that has been used by United Nations experts and leading human rights organizations.
After days of giving behind-the-scenes assurances that she’d continue to support the Democratic nominee, Stevens abruptly shifted her support on Sunday, appearing with Rogers. She said she made the decision after being disinvited to a campaign event with El-Sayed and because of El-Sayed’s association with the pro-Palestine left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who she said was fomenting “hate.”
In a CNN appearance that night, she struggled to explain her decision to endorse Rogers, who has routinely trafficked in explicitly Islamophobic rhetoric during the campaign and whom she’d described months earlier as a “rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda.”
According to a friend of Stevens' who spoke to The Washington Post, the congresswoman's decision came after Turkish had spent days "working her over" to abandon El-Sayed and back Rogers and telling her that she'd "betrayed" Jewish supporters by standing by the progressive Democrat.
Stevens’ romantic relationship with Turkish reportedly began during the Democratic primary, and the two became engaged in May, though the engagement was not announced until after Stevens’ primary loss. One former Stevens staffer told CNN that the congresswoman became increasingly defensive of Israel and AIPAC in May, after her engagement to Turkish, at the expense of other issues such as Michigan’s economy and manufacturing. This was despite AIPAC growing increasingly toxic among Democratic voters and becoming a target of attacks from El-Sayed.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), whom Stevens had reassured on Saturday night that she had no intention of flipping to Rogers, said he was "dumbfounded" by her decision the following day.
"Something doesn’t compute about this whole sequence of events," he said.
On MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Monday, journalist Pablo Torre brought up the reporting on Rogers’ ties to Israel as a possible factor worth investigating when trying to make sense of Stevens’ reversal.
“This is one of the questions around corruption,” Torre said, noting that Stevens’ own pinned post on X spoke about the importance of “defeating Mike Rogers” at the time she endorsed him.
Torre said it was worth asking “whose country are we actually prioritizing” and examining “whether or not there’s a there there around following the money into foreign interests.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Democrats Rally Behind Abdul El-Sayed After 'Despicable Betrayal' by Haley Stevens
"We know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors."
Nov 02, 2026
Democrats across the party's ideological spectrum—in Michigan and around the country—rallied behind US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after his erstwhile primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers two days before a race that could decide control of the upper chamber.
While Stevens claimed in a CNN appearance Sunday night that she's "been hearing from a ton of Dems" privately voicing support for her decision, she received nothing but backlash from fellow Democrats in public. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who quietly supported Stevens in her primary contest against El-Sayed, said that "this is a despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens."
"Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed," Schumer added, "because we know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors."
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who has represented Michigan in the House for more than a decade, suggested in a statement that Stevens' endorsement of Rogers was an effort to "get attention," and that "Michiganders are worried about how they are going to pay their mortgage and fill up their gas tanks, and the ability to afford groceries, healthcare, and housing."
"If we are going to fight to improve the lives of working men and women in Michigan," said Dingell, "we must stay focused on electing Democrats up and down the ballot, and that includes electing Abdul El-Sayed as Michigan's next senator."
Leaders of the Michigan Democratic Party, Michigan Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin, DNC Black Caucus Chair Virgie Rollins, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) were among the many leading party officials and lawmakers who issued statements backing El-Sayed following Stevens' move.
So did two of the party's leading progressives: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
"What is so galling about this moment is we have to be clear about what the choice is," said Mamdani. "The choice is whether or not you want to fight for working people like what Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has been on, or whether you want to provide additional oxygen and amplification to a candidacy of someone who wants to cut Medicare even further than it’s already been cut. That’s what’s on the ballot.”
In addition to top Democrats reiterating their support, El-Sayed saw a major surge in donations in the hours after Stevens' endorsed his Republican opponent. The Wall Street Journal reported that El-Sayed raised $1.2 million in a span of hours on Sunday, making it "his second-best fundraising day since he clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for Senate."
Keep ReadingShow Less
AIPAC-Backed Stevens Denounced as 'Traitor' After Endorsing Pro-Trump Rogers in Michigan Senate Race
"Politicians like Haley Stevens always had more in common with Republicans like Mike Rogers and Donald Trump than with the Democratic base," said House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier. "And now she admits it."
Nov 01, 2026
Rep. Haley Stevens, the pro-Israel Democratic congresswoman who was backed by top party leaders, establishment figures, and tens of millions of dollars from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other outside groups in the primary race earlier this year, suggested Sunday that being disinvited from campaigning with Michigan's Democratic US Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, was all it took to convince her to endorse his Trump-allied Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers.
But one former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes said this weekend that Stevens' alignment with the Republican was the "logical endpoint" of her politics after months of attacking El-Sayed for his critical views on US military aid for Israel—views that are now shared by a majority of US voters after more than three years of Israel's relentless assault on Gaza.
Stevens announced her endorsement in a video posted online after she appeared with Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit, where she asserted that the Republican would support investments in Black-owned businesses—a ploy, said Melat Kiros, a Democratic congressional candidate in Colorado, to use Black voters "as a prop to embrace a racist who will do nothing but rubber stamp this fascist administration."
"Abdul was very clear. He said, 'Don't come,'" said Stevens, standing next to Rogers at the press conference where she was called "traitor" by one bystander. "When it really comes down to it, this is how I'm casting my ballot."
Haley Stevens gets heckled. She is called a traitor and the press conference ends as she is ushered away. https://t.co/O6q2LaYt23
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2026
She added that "nothing's perfect" when asked why she was supporting a candidate who "stands so firmly for some of the policies that you've stood so firmly against."
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) made clear Saturday that she, not El-Sayed, had directly asked Stevens to stay away from the candidate's events in the last days of the campaign after Stevens put out a statement criticizing El-Sayed's position on Israel. She told CNN: "I'm the one. I am the one that talked to Haley. And I am the one that said this isn't working."
On Sunday, Dingell issued a brief statement saying that she, El-Sayed, and Michigan Democrats are "focused on electing Democrats up and down the ballot" instead of Stevens' "continued efforts to get attention."
The political action committee American Priorities, which was established to counter AIPAC's funding of Republicans and Democrats who support Israel, said that with Stevens' choice, "what’s been clear to us all along is now plain to see: AIPAC and its candidates, including this failed primary one, are committed to electing Republicans."
"Every Democrat should be crystal clear on what AIPAC is and is not: It is an outside interference in Democratic politics, not a legitimate stakeholder in the party's future," said the group.
Stevens' endorsement came a day after reproductive rights advocates highlighted a recent interview Rogers did with WMUZ radio host Bob Dutko, in which he affirmed he would support a nationwide abortion ban.
"You don't even have to think about it twice," said Rogers on Thursday. "I mean, I feel I’ve been very open about all of those issues, including for the time I was in Congress having a 100% pro-life rating... This is the only way that I know how to be when I go back to the United States Senate."
Stevens' appearance with and endorsement of Rogers capped the congresswoman's months of political attacks on El-Sayed, a progressive who has also made Medicare for All a key part of his platform.
El-Sayed's positions on the Middle East and the human rights of Palestinians, Stevens and other pro-Israel politicians and groups have claimed, threaten the safety of Jewish communities in Michigan—despite the fact that 61% of Jewish Americans last year expressed agreement with leading human rights groups and Holocaust experts, saying in a Washington Post poll that they believed Israel's US-backed military had committed war crimes in Gaza.
El-Sayed has repeatedly spoken about protecting Jewish communities from acts of antisemitism, and his campaign is engaging directly with Jewish voters on the issue in the final days of the race. Meanwhile, Rogers has joined President Donald Trump in waging anti-Arab and Islamophobic attacks against El-Sayed, accusing him of being aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and standing alongside Trump at rallies where the president has openly called the Michigan-born candidate, whose family immigrated to the US from Egypt, a "jihadist."
During the primary, Stevens spent weeks condemning El-Sayed for campaigning with another Arab American, popular streamer and Israel critic Hasan Piker. Last week, nearly three months after losing the primary, she demanded the candidate apologize for statements made in a digital ad by an outside group, which criticized the use of taxpayer dollars to fund Israel's military.
On Sunday, her appearance with Rogers reportedly led to the collapse of her own political operation, with her chief of staff and other aides abruptly resigning.
El-Sayed was asked about Stevens' actions, but reiterated his focus on securing a federal government that serves the needs of Michiganders and other families across the country, saying: "At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. Because you know what? I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all."
El-Sayed: At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. Because you know what? I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all… If you are somebody who believes that we should stand up to hate, and you have watched this last campaign, I think we probably would not want to support Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and JD Vance. If you're somebody who believes that we need more health care, not less than you probably don't want to vote for the guy who voted to raise prescription drug prices or keep them high 19 times and takes money from big pharma and big insurance. If you're somebody who believes in public education, you probably do not want to support the guy who architected the initial legislation in 1999 that ended up stripping local control from Detroit public schools and the local community. If you're somebody who believes that you should have a right to a union, you probably don't want to support the guy who busts unions. So I'm just saying that the principles that we believe in as Democrats are really quite clear. I stand for all of them.
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2026
Jesse Brenneman, an editor for the podcast "Know Your Enemy," expressed hope that "this debacle drops the blinders from many eyes and allows people to see things clearly."
"The Democratic establishment is not primarily concerned with winning elections. It is concerned with preserving its power and pushing certain outcomes," said Brenneman. "They are usually more subtle than this, but when push comes to shove they will explicitly blow things up to serve this end. They don’t want majorities full of popular politicians, unless those politicians serve the interests that they care about."
Stevens' decision, said congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is running in New York's 13th District, showed "that politicians like Haley Stevens always had more in common with Republicans like Mike Rogers and Donald Trump than with the Democratic base. And now she admits it. That’s why it’s so important to run democratic primaries. It’s not enough to send Democrats to Washington, we have to send Democrats who are fighting for the things working-class voters want!"
Stevens' alignment with Rogers and Trump would leave Democrats across the state "feeling even better today about nominating Abdul El-Sayed to fight for our working-class families," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in the US Congress. "Three days to go, let’s tune out this nonsense and turn out the vote. Let's make sure Haley loses to Abdul twice."
Keep ReadingShow Less
After Stevens' Latest Attack, El-Sayed Reiterates Focus on 'Beating Mike Rogers' in Final Weekend of Campaign
"Our campaign is and has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing: skyrocketing gas prices, unaffordable groceries, and the inability to see a doctor."
Oct 31, 2026
After issuing a brief statement in response to Rep. Haley Stevens' demand that he apologize for the views he's expressed—in line with a growing majority of Democrats—that are critical of US funding for Israel, Michigan's Democratic US Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, headed into the final weekend before the midterm elections with the same focus he has maintained throughout his campaign.
"While Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago," said El-Sayed, "let's all focus on the task at hand: That's beating Mike Rogers, holding [President Donald] Trump accountable, and getting money out of politics, putting money in pockets, and passing Medicare for All."
The statement followed Stevens' latest attempt to suggest that El-Sayed's candidacy has threatened Jewish communities, by tying him to an anti-Rogers ad by an outside group, Rebellion PAC, that addressed how the billions of dollars and political support the US provides to Israel each year costs Americans. The Trump administration has publicly said the US launched its illegal war on Iran after being pushed to do so by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a decision that has markedly worsened the affordability crisis for Americans.
El-Sayed's campaign has said the digital ad does not "speak for" the progressive candidate, while others have pushed back on the claim by the vehemently pro-Israel Stevens and pro-Israel groups that the video is antisemitic, noting that it says nothing about Jewish people.
In his statement Friday evening, El-Sayed appeared to have little interest in engaging with Stevens further regarding persistent accusations by corporate Democrats who have claimed he hasn't done enough to reach out to Jewish communities, whom his campaign has been speaking with extensively about fighting antisemitism and their views on Israel at "deep canvassing" events.
"Our campaign is and has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing: skyrocketing gas prices, unaffordable groceries, and the inability to see a doctor," said El-Sayed, noting that his message had allowed him to win the primary in August despite "a historic $70 million in outside spending by big corporations" and the pro-Israel lobby on behalf of Stevens.
Two sources told Politico that El-Sayed's campaign was asking Stevens not to campaign with him in the final weekend, which the congresswoman had begrudgingly said she planned to do in her statement demanding an apology from the candidate.
But El-Sayed himself was applauded by progressives for "holding firm and ignoring the whines and threats of extremists," as art director Lindsay Ballant said.
"For those folks demanding that El-Sayed condemn that ad, he isn’t playing your stupid game," said another observer. "He understands that whatever he does, it won’t be enough. There will always be another demand. So take your cudgel somewhere else."
Even if El-Sayed took time away from the statewide door-knocking tour he had planned for the weekend to address Stevens' demand, podcaster and former Obama administration staffer Tommy Vietor asserted that "people would then say he didn't condemn it firmly enough."
"The guilt by association shit is endless," said Vietor. "Meanwhile, Abdul is literally being called a jihadist by the president of the United States!"
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) are set to join El-Sayed at the "Knock Out the Vote" canvassing event from Saturday through Monday.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Haley Stevens Slammed for Statement Suggesting She's Willing to Sabotage Midterms to Halt Progressive Surge
"If a progressive candidate was actively trying to pin an establishment nominee days before the election the way Stevens is with Abdul right now, they’d be exiled from political life."
Oct 30, 2026
In the final days of the US Senate campaign in Michigan, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is leading in polls, winning praise for taking President Donald Trump and his Republican opponent to task with incisive humor, and providing a clear closing message in evocative ads.
But his former Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), said Friday that while she reiterated this week her decision to support El-Sayed in next Tuesday's election—a plan not shared by her fiancé, who publicly announced he would vote for Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers—she was demanding concessions from the Democratic candidate, in a statement that sought to tie him to a recent online ad by an outside group.
Stevens said she would campaign with El-Sayed this weekend alongside Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), but demanded that he apologize for comments he has made about Israel on the campaign trail. El-Sayed, like a growing majority of Americans, is deeply critical of US support for Israel's military, to which it sends billions of dollars in aid annually. Since Israel began attacking Gaza in October 2023, the Biden and Trump administrations have sent $21 billion in military aid to Israel.
The congresswoman demanded that El-Sayed apologize for suggesting "that Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, healthcare, and childcare."
"Abdul promises to get money out of politics," she said. "He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford."
Journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News said Stevens was essentially asking El-Sayed to lie to voters.
"The US government itself, in its official explanation, says that we launched the war on Iran in significant part to defend Israel," said Grim. "Marco Rubio said it out loud too. It's obvious. So it would be a lie not to include Israel in any explanation for why life in Michigan is less affordable now."
The war on Iran has sent gas prices soaring, with Americans paying an additional
$101 billion on gasoline since the war started, or an average of $856 per household.
Stevens also said she expected El-Sayed to "formally" condemn a recent ad by Rebellion PAC, led by Cenk Uygur of the left-wing network The Young Turks, and suggested that she was only agreeing to campaign with the candidate because she had received assurances of the condemnation.
El-Sayed's campaign has already emphasized that "no one speaks for Abdul but himself," and that he had nothing to do with the ad, for which the PAC spent just $4,000 for social media and digital placement. The ad shows a couple talking about having to cut grocery spending because of the billions of dollars the US provides to Israel in military aid.
The video makes no mention of Jewish people, but was quickly denounced as "antisemitic" by groups including the Anti-Defamation League—which has frequently attacked progressive politicians who are critical of US support for Israel and defend Palestinian rights—and a group of rabbis and Jewish voters called Nonnegotiable Michigan.
Throughout El-Sayed's primary and general election campaign, pro-Israel lawmakers and groups that back corporate Democrats have claimed his candidacy threatens Jewish people in Michigan; attacked him for campaigning with popular streamer Hasan Piker, a vehement critic of Israel; and accused him of not sufficiently denouncing terrorism.
On Friday, critics said Stevens was renewing attacks that she had waged during the primary, when El-Sayed denounced the pro-Israel congresswomen for taking millions of dollars from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The powerful lobby group and other outside groups poured at least $50 million into the Michigan primary race in an effort to boost Stevens. The congresswoman spent months attacking El-Sayed for campaigning with Piker.
Julian Andreone of Drop Site News suggested that judging from Stevens' statement just days before the crucial election in a swing state, "she wants him to lose because she is more subservient to her pro-Israel donors than she is loyal to her constituents and country."
"If a progressive candidate was actively trying to pin an establishment nominee days before the election the way Stevens is with Abdul right now, they’d be exiled from political life," he said.
The Michigan race could determine which party holds control of the Senate—and whether Democrats are able to rein in Trump in the last two years of his presidency.
At The Nation, Jeet Heer wrote that with Trump's approval rating at an historic low and Republicans tasked with convincing voters that the party is looking out for their interests—despite supporting an illegal, price-hiking war and healthcare cuts—Stevens had offered the GOP "one glimmer of hope" that corporate Democrats seem "addicted to self-sabotage."
"In Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has been dogged by the sore-loser behavior of centrist Democrats who can’t abide the fact he won the primary," wrote Heer. "In particular, his defeated rival Haley Stevens keeps trying to extract political concessions from El-Sayed rather than letting him unite the party against Republican Mike Rogers."
Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo News emphasized that while the congresswoman was happy to condemn a fellow Democrat who "has nothing to do with an ad that isn’t racist," she has ignored "the endless actual racist abuse the candidate has had to endure."
"I have never seen so many Democrats attempt to ratfuck their own candidate in the final stretch of a campaign," said history professor Keith Orejel of Wilmington College. "Absolutely insanity."
Keep ReadingShow Less
El-Sayed Challenges 'Corporate Sellout' and 'Coward' Mike Rogers to Five Debates
The Michigan Democrat called his Republican opponent "a guy who spent 14 years in Congress with one goal: to figure out how to cash out the day he left," and promised to send him back to Florida in November.
Aug 05, 2026
After winning Michigan's Democratic primary contest for US Senate, Abdul El-Sayed wasted no time on Wednesday, challenging the Republican nominee, former Congressman Mike Rogers, to five debates before the November general election.
"Mike," El-Sayed said at a podium while speaking with reporters on Wednesday morning, "I know you're gonna say no 'cause you're a coward: Five debates, all right?"
"If you're willing to stand with me and have a conversation—you and I both know that you will wither in front of your own crimes. But Imma make sure Michiganders know about them," he continued. "By the time we're done, you are not gonna have safe quarter from people holding you accountable to what you've done for them here in Michigan. We will send you back to Florida where you belong."
Ripping Rogers as a "corporate sellout," El-Sayed said that he is "a guy who spent 14 years in Congress with one goal: to figure out how to cash out the day he left. And guess what he did: As soon as he left Congress, after having taken corporate check after corporate check after corporate check, to empower the corporations to pick your pockets, he went and he cashed out."
"Not in Michigan—no, winters are too cold for him," he added, eliciting chuckles from the crowd. "He's got thin skin, after all. He went to Florida. So, Mike, if you wanna be a Florida man, go be a Florida man."
Rogers‚ who was unopposed in Tuesday's GOP primary, worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation before entering politics, first at the state level and then representing Michigan's 8th District in Congress from 2001-15. In comments to Fox News late Tuesday, the Republican cited his time fighting "terrorism" in the FBI and falsely claimed that El-Sayed believes "America deserved 9/11."
"This is really about the heart and soul of our country," Rogers said of the race just minutes after El-Sayed, a son of Egyptian immigrants, declared victory over Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens. "I have never seen someone so radical, so extreme, get nominated by a political party... The Democrat party is lost to this hardcore socialist attitude."
The Democratic Socialists of America did not endorse El-Sayed, but his victory is part of a wave of recent primary wins by progressive congressional candidates, from New York and Pennsylvania to Colorado. The trend continued in other closely watched Michigan races on Tuesday, with William Lawrence winning in the 7th Congressional District and Donavan McKinney in the 13th District.
Like other victorious progressives, El-Sayed ran on a platform prioritizing working-class people; a former public health official, he especially focused on the fight for Medicare for All. Bridge Michigan reported Wednesday that "El-Sayed has said he doesn't consider himself a democratic socialist and rejects the notion that his views are extreme in today’s political climate."
"In an era where our premiums are quickly pricing people out, I think being for Medicare for All is… the moderate position," El-Sayed previously told the outlet. In an era where President Donald Trump "is weaponizing" US immigration and Customs Enforcement "against the Constitution itself," he added, "I think abolishing ICE is a moderate position."
While key party leaders nationwide have often backed establishment candidates over progressives in recent primaries, including El-Sayed v. Stevens, Democrats in Michigan and across the country are already rallying behind the victor, with even the congresswoman he defeated showing her support on Wednesday.
"Mike Rogers represents everything people hate about politics: He sold Michiganders out to the corporate special interests cutting him checks, abandoned Michigan for a Florida mansion, and got rich advising the industries he regulated in Congress," Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Joey Hannum said in a statement after the primary election.
"As Trump's approval rating plummets to record lows, Rogers is still pledging to rubber stamp his toxic agenda, mocking Michiganders' concerns about rising costs, and saying he would focus on 'shielding' the Trump administration and billionaires like Elon Musk from accountability, rather than stand up for working families," Hannum said. "Michigan Democrats will hold Rogers accountable for his corruption, expose his price-hiking agenda, and defeat him a second time this November."
Keep ReadingShow Less
El-Sayed on Track to Win US Senate Primary, Overcoming AIPAC's $30 Million Onslaught
"We all knew they were going to spend their money," said Abdul El-Sayed. "We didn't know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we're still standing."
Aug 05, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed was on track Wednesday to narrowly win the Democratic nomination for US Senate in Michigan, overcoming tens of millions of dollars in outside spending by AIPAC and other special interests that sought to smear the progressive epidemiologist and boost his opponent, US Rep. Haley Stevens.
NBC declared El-Sayed the winner, but The Associated Press said the race was too close to call with over 90% of ballots counted. As of early Wednesday morning, El-Sayed was leading Stevens by roughly 21,000 votes—or just over one percentage point.
In his election night speech, El-Sayed stopped short of declaring victory but celebrated the "movement that we were able to inspire."
"Across that movement that we built, there was an inspiration in the idea that we could take our government back. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people instead of government of the corporations, by the special interests, and for the billionaires," El-Sayed told supporters. "And because you had the audacity to believe in that, you know that the billionaires, the corporations, and the special interests, they weren't going to give up lightly. We all knew they were going to spend their money. We didn't know they were going to spend $70 million of their money. We didn't know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we're still standing."
An El-Sayed victory would be a brutal defeat for AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying organization that shelled out over $30 million to defeat him. AIPAC cash accounted for nearly half of all the outside spending in the race, which was the most expensive Democratic primary in US history.
"AIPAC spent over $30 million to stop Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in this race, and that record-high sum wasn’t enough because Democratic voters have had it with the fringe and extremist view that our tax dollars should pay for Israel’s bombs, wars, and genocidal ambitions," said Margaret DeReus, executive director of the IMEU Policy Project. "With Michigan now playing a decisive role in selecting the next Democratic president, potential 2028 contenders should take notes."
The winner of the Senate contest will face Republican Mike Rogers in November.
Progressives also appeared poised to win other closely watched races in Michigan. The Associated Press projected that grassroots organizer and climate activist William Lawrence has won the Democratic primary in Michigan's 7th Congressional District, while progressive state Rep. Donavan McKinney led establishment-backed US Rep. Shri Thanedar—who received AIPAC support—in the 13th District, with more than 70% of the vote counted.
"AIPAC fell on its face in Michigan," the progressive advocacy group RootsAction said in response to the primary results. "Voters showed that they want what progressives have been clamoring for, including Medicare for All, a stop to endless wars, and true economic security."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressives Aim to Defeat AIPAC Cash, Democratic Establishment in Michigan and Missouri Primaries
"The Democratic establishment threw everything it had at Abdul El-Sayed," said one podcaster. "If he wins, the reverberations will be felt far outside of Michigan."
Aug 04, 2026
Voters in five states are going to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots for US House and Senate candidates, including several who aim to continue a recent streak of progressive victories that—as Colorado democratic socialist Melat Kiros said after she won her own primary race last month—will send a message to "both parties, to Donald Trump, and to the entire country.”
Major races in which progressives are hoping to beat corporate-backed, centrist Democrats are set to be decided in Missouri and Michigan, and observers have pointed to unprecedented outside spending on the primaries—including more than $100 million that's been poured into races by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as public support for Israel plummets—as clear evidence that the political establishment views left-wing challengers as formidable opponents.
With AIPAC taking an outsized role in funding a number of centrist primary campaigns this election cycle, the results Tuesday night are expected to reveal whether the lobby group can continue to influence elections and US policy regarding Israel, while a growing number of Americans view Israel negatively following nearly three years of its US-backed assault on Gaza.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama administration staffer who co-hosts the podcast "Pod Save America," said that with the Democratic establishment particularly throwing its weight behind pro-Israel US Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the race between her and progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's US Senate race, Tuesday will be "the culmination of one of the most heated and expensive Democratic Senate primaries in history."
"The Democratic establishment threw everything it had at Abdul El-Sayed," said Pfeiffer. "If he wins, the reverberations will be felt far outside of Michigan."
The Michigan Senate race is arguably the most high-profile race taking place Tuesday, but in a number of House districts in the state and elsewhere, progressives are vying for seats in Congress in hopes of increasing the number of Democrats who would use their power to advocate for programs like Medicare for All and universal childcare and against massive Pentagon budgets and US aid to Israel.
Key races include:
State Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-11) vs. US Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.)
McKinney, a former labor organizer, is running to unseat Thanedar in the state's 13th District, and recently notched endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America and Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) have also thrown their support behind McKinney.
The state lawmaker's website states that he is running "because I’ve lived through the same bull**** as you my whole life, right here at home in Detroit." He calls his city "the poster child for communities in need of the Green New Deal," pointing to lead-polluted water and "some of the most polluted air in the country."
He has also pushed to ban utility monopolies and government contractors, calling Thanedar "our multimillionaire congressman who bought this seat with his own money," and had pledged to defeat "the corporate and right-wing super PACs that will spend millions to support" Thanedar.
According to Punchbowl News, Thanedar is "heavily self-funding" his campaign and, along with the pro-cryptocurrency group Protect Progress, has spent $4.6 million on TV ads.
McKinney has also pointed to Thanedar's campaign funding from Detroit's unpopular energy utility company, DTE, and from AIPAC. According to The Intercept, "two-thirds of the money Thanedar raised in the last quarter came from AIPAC, which collects money from multiple donors and funnels it to the pro-Israel group’s preferred candidates... Less than a quarter of those donors listed Michigan as their state of residence."
Thanedar "was in the minority of House Democrats who voted against cutting $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel from a State Department spending bill" last month, The Intercept added.
In his "closing message" on Tuesday, McKinney told radio show host Dean Obeidallah that he doesn't "have any special interests pulling the strings."
"My special interest is the people of the mighty 13th District, and instead of continuing to send our taxpayer money to fund genocide and send it for bombs and weapons to kill families and children, or to start wars in Iran and spend over $1 billion a day on average, my focus is going to be taking those resources, our taxpayer money, and bringing it back home for people who need it the most," said McKinney.
As Michigan heads to the polls, @DonavanMI13 gave @DeanObeidallah his closing message, that he'll be a fighter for his district. pic.twitter.com/7VofIpa6tz
— SiriusXMProg.bsky.social (@SiriusXMProg) August 4, 2026
Organizer William Lawrence vs. Retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam vs. Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink
Lawrence has also been endorsed by Sanders, Tlaib, and a number of progressive groups in his race in the state's 7th District, where he and the two moderate candidates seek to oust US Rep. Tom Barrett.
Some polls have shown the progressive co-founder of Sunrise Movement in the lead by as many as six percentage points, but other recent surveys have shown Brink in the lead.
Lawrence has touted his energetic grassroots campaign, announcing on Monday that 864 volunteers had knocked on 100,000 doors in the district, which includes Lansing and the surrounding area.
Yesterday we knocked our 100,000th door. We've built a grassroots operation unlike anything Mid-Michigan has seen before.
864 volunteers got us here, and we're just getting started. We will hit even more by November to beat Barrett. pic.twitter.com/WDZJ7gYPDl
— William Lawrence (@WeWill2026) August 4, 2026
Lawrence has focused heavily on the push to build nearly 80 artificial intelligence data centers in communities in Michigan. President Donald Trump has demanded a deregulated approach, and people in towns and cities across the country have rallied against the facilities, arguing the massive water and energy consumption of data centers makes them undesirable additions to their communities.
Lawrence has joined Sanders and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in calling for a nationwide moratorium on the construction of new data centers. In one campaign ad he was seen at a farm, saying, “Tech billionaires want to turn this field into a massive data center that’ll jack up our energy bills and ruin our home values... I’m running for U.S. Congress because I’ve never been afraid to stand up to corporate power."
Some in the Democratic establishment attacked Lawrence recently over comments he made in 2024 in which he said older Black leaders in the party have worked to defang "the white left." He apologized for the remark.
At a rally ahead of the primary, Lawrence told supporters that the campaign has "continued climbing" despite the attacks.
"And that's because there are real human beings in this campaign who are having real conversations, and that is cutting through the lies and the bullshit," he said.
Our campaign has continued to surge despite the millions of dollars in attacks misrepresenting my record.
We've built real relationships with our neighbors that the dark money outsiders can't buy with lies.
Our movement is ready to weather these smears from the GOP and beat… pic.twitter.com/sNgaoXYMBz
— William Lawrence (@WeWill2026) August 3, 2026
El-Sayed vs. Stevens
In the state's most closely-watched race, El-Sayed has taken direct aim at Stevens for benefiting from tens of millions of dollars in AIPAC money as he has run on the slogan, "Money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for all."
Stevens has been endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has come under fire this election cycle for other endorsements including that of Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the New England state's Senate race, with progressives arguing Schumer has backed establishment candidates and ignored the energy around Medicare for All, taxing billionaires, and ending aid for Israel among the party's base.
Ben Rhodes, another former Obama staffer, said Monday that the party leadership "decided to back Haley Stevens in part out of fear of Abdul and the future he represents."
El-Sayed is an outspoken advocate for Medicare for All, but Stevens has appeared eager to center his identity as a Muslim American in the race, joining the centrist think tank Third Way in attacking him for campaigning with commentator Hasan Piker, an outspoken critic of Israel, and claiming last week that El-Sayed wants "to blame all of [his] problems on Jewish Americans."
The latter comment was widely condemned as "race-baiting."
El-Sayed closed his primary campaign out Tuesday with an ad featuring several of his high-profile endorsers as well as grassroots supporters.
"We need to talk about who we are and affirm what we're willing to fight for, and that's exactly why this movement is resonating with so many," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
Time to vote, Michigan! For the many. For money out of politics. For money in your pocket. For Medicare for All. pic.twitter.com/e64Y9A4wuH
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 4, 2026
Numerous polls in recent weeks have shown El-Sayed far ahead of Stevens, particularly among younger voters.
Drop Site News highlighted a number of other Michigan races in which progressives are running, including organizer Abbas Alawieh in the 2nd state Senate district and Sanders-endorsed Eboni Taylor in the 3rd state Senate district.
Former US Rep. Cori Bush vs. Rep. Wesley Bell
In Missouri's 1st District in St. Louis, former US Rep. Cori Bush is running for a second time against Rep. Wesley Bell, who defeated her in the 2024 primary after nearly two-thirds of his campaign funding came from the United Democracy Project (UDP), a super political action committee affiliated with AIPAC. The group allocated more than $100 million toward defeating candidates that supported Palestinian rights and opposed US military funding for Israel that year.
Bush told Politico recently that this year's election is no different.
“One of us is of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Bush said in a recent interview. “The other one is paid for by AIPAC."
According to AdImpact, UDP has again spent more than $3 million on advertising in the primary.
While Bell has a clear financial advantage, he lacks the "grassroots army" Bush has, The Intercept recently reported, as well as voter engagement. The former county prosecutor has not shown up to several candidate forums.
Polling in the race has been scarce; a survey released in February that was sponsored by Bush's campaign showed Bell ahead by four points, with 17% of respondents undecided.
Jessica Montgomery, co-chair of the St. Louis DSA chapter, told The Intercept that voters in St. Louis are likely to show "buyer's remorse" regarding Bell in Tuesday's election.
He voted along with 74 other Democrats to "thank" US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June 2025, when Trump was beginning his violent mass deportation campaign
“There’s a lot of very progressive voters in St. Louis who don’t like the fact that he voted to thank ICE,” Montgomery told the outlet. “I think they want someone who will be more adversarial and will fight back against the Trump administration.”
Bush said Monday that her opponent "is backed by billionaires, MAGA money, and AIPAC. But our movement is backed by the people."
Keep ReadingShow Less
AIPAC’s 2026 Spending Tops $100 Million—Including $30 Million Against El-Sayed in Michigan
AIPAC has spent at least $104.3 million during the 2026 election cycle—a figure that's "likely to swell before the midterms are through," notes a new analysis.
Aug 04, 2026
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization widely known as AIPAC, has poured more than $100 million into the 2026 midterm elections, with around $30 million dedicated to defeating progressive epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed in Tuesday's Democratic US Senate primary in Michigan.
The $30.6 million that AIPAC's political action committee and super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), have spent on the Michigan contest is the most money the organization has ever devoted to a single race, according to an analysis published Monday by Sludge. El-Sayed and his supporters have repeatedly called out his opponent, US Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), for benefiting heavily from AIPAC cash.
"The Michigan Senate primary is a fight as to whether billionaires and their super PACs will continue to control American politics, or whether we can have a government that represents working families," US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is supporting El-Sayed, wrote in a social media post on Monday. "Let’s elect Abdul El-Sayed."
More broadly, AIPAC has spent at least $104.3 million during the 2026 election cycle—a figure that's "likely to swell before the midterms are through," Sludge noted. The investigative outlet observed that AIPAC's super PAC—whose ads often include no mention of Israel—had $80 million of cash on hand as of the end of June.
The $104.3 million total does not include spending by super PACs quietly bankrolled by AIPAC. The American Prospect reported earlier this summer that AIPAC has been "routing campaign cash through anodyne-sounding pop-up shell PACs like 'Elect Chicago Women' or 'Affordable Chicago Now,' which received $5.3 million from United Democracy Project back in February for four races in Illinois, which resulted in two wins and two losses."
In addition to spending big to defeat El-Sayed in Michigan, AIPAC is backing incumbent US Rep. Wesley Bell against progressive challenger Cori Bush in Tuesday's Democratic primary race for Missouri's 1st Congressional District. Bell unseated Bush in the district's 2024 Democratic primary with the help of millions of dollars in AIPAC spending.
AIPAC's super PAC pumped more than $3 million into the Missouri primary last month, The Intercept's Akela Lacy reported over the weekend.
"One thing Bell does not have is Bush’s grassroots army," Lacy added. "Though he’s far outraised Bush and has outside spending in his corner, Bush is buoyed by organizers with the St. Louis chapter of Democratic Socialists of America... After being saturated with negative ads and mail from AIPAC and other groups that spent on the 2024 primary, St. Louis residents are slightly more prepared this time around, said organizers backing Bush’s campaign."
US Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who is facing progressive challenger Donavan McKinney on Tuesday, has also received significant campaign funding from AIPAC.
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy