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<\/a><\/p>\nBarbara Weinberg Barefield attends Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s election night watch party on Aug. 4, 2026 in Detroit. (Grace Gilson)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Barbara Weinberg Barefield, who had campaigned for El-Sayed\u2019s \u201cJews for Abdul\u201d group, said she was feeling \u201creally excited\u201d as she watched the polls displayed at the watch party.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in the world are looking at this campaign, and it\u2019s going to show that you can\u2019t buy your candidates. They have to win,\u201d Weinberg Barefield said. \u201cThey have to win because of their positions, because of their humanity, because of their messages, their care for people, and you can\u2019t just have money pour from private corporations and AIPAC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The race was tight in Oakland County, the heavily Jewish suburban Detroit region that Stevens represents in Congress. With 76% of the votes counted there, Stevens led El-Sayed by 2.3 percentage points with some 4,000 votes \u2014 about the same as what state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who abandoned her own Senate campaign weeks ago, was drawing in the county.<\/p>\n
The race is widely seen as a must-win for Democrats in their bid to retake control of the Senate, raising the stakes of a primary that increasingly focused on which candidate would be better poised to defeat Rogers. Recent polling in the race shows that Rogers has a slight lead over El-Sayed, while Stevens polled slightly ahead of the GOP candidate.<\/p>\n
For many Jewish Democrats in the state, the race has also become a test of El-Sayed\u2019s approach to Israel, with his rhetoric about the war in Gaza and repeated attacks on AIPAC spending in the race alarming voters who might otherwise be drawn to his progressive politics.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The New Yorker days before the primary, El-Sayed appeared to strike a more nuanced tone on his Israel views than he has in many of his rallies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in a process that offers a free Palestinian people the equal rights, dignity and self-determination that a free Jewish Israeli people ought to have,\u201d the candidate told The New Yorker\u2019s David Remnick. \u201cAnd I will support whatever the outcome is that a free Palestinian people and a free Jewish Israeli people decide is the right outcome. If that\u2019s two states, great, I\u2019m for it. If it\u2019s one state, great, I\u2019m for that \u2014 if it\u2019s this \u2018land for all\u2019 model, or 23 states, or whatever it is they decide.\u201d <\/p>\n
With El-Sayed leading Stevens by as much as 16 points in polls going into the primaries, the race could mark the latest victory for the Democratic Party\u2019s emergent progressive wing, which has seen a string of primary wins in races across the country, several of which have elevated candidates sharply critical of AIPAC and Israel.<\/p>\n
The fight has particular resonance in Michigan, which is home to sizable Jewish and Arab American populations and has emerged as a battleground for Democratic divisions over Israel since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and ensuing war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the starkest divide between the candidates themselves has been over Israel.<\/p>\n
Stevens has maintained a strong record of support for Israel throughout her four terms in Congress, while El-Sayed has repeatedly accused the country of committing genocide in Gaza and often framed U.S. funding for Israel as money that should be diverted to domestic priorities. He has also said the Israeli government is as \u201cevil\u201d as Hamas and questioned whether Israel should be a Jewish state.<\/p>\n
El-Sayed has also faced scrutiny from Stevens and many Jewish leaders in the state for campaigning alongside Piker, who has faced accusations of antisemitism.<\/p>\n
El-Sayed additionally appalled some Michigan Jews with his remarks following the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, when he said \u201churt people do hurt people\u201d of the attacker who targeted the synagogue when preschool was in session, and who had family who were killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Those divisions have been amplified by AIPAC\u2019s record-breaking spending in the race. The group\u2019s super PAC has spent over $31 million to support Stevens, according to AdImpact. El-Sayed has made the lobby of his most frequent campaign targets.<\/p>\n
Many Jewish Democrats in the state have rallied behind Stevens, with some warning that a potential El-Sayed victory could push them to reconsider their allegiance to the party and support Rogers in the general election.<\/p>\n
El-Sayed, 41, is a former director of the Detroit Health Department who first rose to prominence during his unsuccessful 2018 bid for Michigan governor, when he ran with the backing of a host of progressive leaders. In the Senate race, he has campaigned on a platform emphasizing affordability and healthcare while railing against money in politics, particularly AIPAC.<\/p>\n
Stevens, 43, has represented Michigan\u2019s 11th Congressional District, which spans much of Oakland County, since 2019. A former chief of staff for the Obama administration\u2019s auto rescue task force, she has focused on affordability issues while emphasizing her ability to win in competitive territory.<\/p>\n
El-Sayed has drawn endorsements from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, as well as Jewish Voice for Peace Action and Pal Pac, a pro-Palestinian political action committee.<\/p>\n
Stevens, meanwhile, has been endorsed by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus and the Jewish Democratic Council of America.<\/p>\n
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