Rep. Haley Stevens has scored the support of the Congressional Black Caucus in her bid for the U.S. Senate, handing her some late-innings bragging rights with African American voters who have the power to swing her hard-fought Democratic primary race against Abdul El-Sayed.
The CBC’s announcement Friday came a day before Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders and his protege, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez, plan to parachute into Michigan to throw their political muscle behind Mr. El-Sayed, the far‑left darling in the race.
Both moves underscore how the Aug. 4 primary between Mr. El-Sayed, a physician and former Wayne County health director, and Ms. Stevens, who is serving her fourth term in the 11th Congressional District in the Detroit suburbs, is shaping up to be the last major clash between the party’s centrist wing and its ascendant left flank.
Democrats likely need to hold the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters, who has endorsed Ms. Stevens, to have any chance of flipping control of the Senate this fall.
“Haley has spent her career fighting for Black Michiganders,” Chris Taylor, spokesman for the CBC’s political action committee, said, citing her support for President Obama’s auto bailout. “We know we can count on her to stand up and speak out against Trump’s discriminatory agenda.”
Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio‑Cortez, meanwhile, plan to campaign with Mr. El-Sayed in Detroit on Saturday and in Lansing and Grand Rapids on Sunday at rallies billed as “The People v. The Powerful.”
The Sanders‑AOC rally in Detroit will also feature United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whose union has endorsed Mr. El-Sayed and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, another vocal pro‑Palestinian left‑wing firebrand.
The independent Sanders and Democrat Ocasio-Cortez, both native New Yorkers, have become a cross‑generational tag team since President Trump returned to office. They have traveled the country, urging grassroots activists not to lose hope and arguing that the working class can still fight back at the ballot box.
Mr. El-Sayed is the sole Senate candidate to have won the blessing of Ms. Ocasio‑Cortez, a likely 2028 presidential contender who joined more than 100 of her House Democratic colleagues this week in voting in a failed effort to strip $3.3 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Israel from a foreign affairs spending bill.
The split over the U.S.–Israel relationship, nearly three years into Israel’s war with Hamas, has been a central fault line in the Michigan Senate race.
Ms. Stevens has refused to join the growing number of Democrats who accuse Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. She has supported continued U.S. assistance — aligning her with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Mr. Peters in what has been the party’s traditional stance.
Mr. El-Sayed has embraced the “genocide” framing and has been relentless in reminding voters that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — the largest pro‑Israel lobby in Washington — has poured tens of millions of dollars into the race on behalf of Ms. Stevens.
He has questioned whether her loyalties lie with taxpayers or with a foreign nation, and argued that military assistance sent to Israel and other countries would be better spent at home on programs aimed at easing burdens on the working class.
“Congresswoman Stevens has welcomed corporations and special interests to support her,” Mr. El-Sayed said Friday on X. “She votes to send our money abroad while Michiganders struggle.”
He added, “AIPAC, Trump‑aligned billionaires, and corporate PACs are spending $50,000,000+ to support her.”
Ms. Stevens has countered by pressing Mr. El-Sayed to be more transparent about his personal finances, suggesting he has something to hide. She also says that as the only person in the race who is “not a millionaire,” she has more in common with working‑class voters.
Meanwhile, she’s leaning into the argument that she is the most electable candidate in a hypothetical general election showdown with former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running uncontested for the GOP nomination — and Republicans know it.
“They think it will make it easier for Mike Rogers to win if you are the nominee,” she told Mr. El-Sayed on the debate stage this month.
The El-Sayed camp has responded by circulating a memo highlighting polls showing he’s running stronger than Ms. Stevens against Mr. Rogers, has higher favorability ratings and has built a far larger grassroots army of volunteers.
The financial disparity in the race is jarring.
The Detroit News reported Friday that pro‑Stevens groups have reserved $52.6 million in ad time compared with $4.1 million for pro‑El-Sayed forces. AdImpact, an independent tracker, found that AIPAC has spent $28 million on behalf of Ms. Stevens.
The dynamic has Democrats worried that they could struggle to unify the party after the primary dust settles in a state where Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss was attributed in part to her inability to win over Michigan’s large Arab and Muslim communities because of the Biden administration’s support for Israel.
If Ms. Stevens wins, some fear those same voters will not show up for her, particularly after Mr. El-Sayed has spent months casting her as an AIPAC stooge.
If Mr. El-Sayed wins, others worry he could push moderate pro‑Israel Democrats and disenchanted Jewish voters into the GOP’s hands.
