CNN Chief Political Analyst David Axelrod said Friday that Democratic Michigan U.S."
Axelrod's criticism came as Michigan Democrats publicly fracture days before a planned joint campaign appearance in Detroit. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) called on El-Sayed Friday to formally condemn the Rebellion PAC ad, apologize for his own comments linking Israel to Michigan's affordability challenges, and take down a campaign ad featuring Tucker Carlson, according to Newsweek.
"She was absolutely right to call on Abdul El-Sayed to denounce the Rebellion PAC ad and she was right to call on him to apologize for espousing the same hateful ideology behind it," Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers posted on X.
Stevens characterized the Rebellion PAC ad as antisemitic. The ad suggested that U.S. support for Israel was contributing to rising costs for American families. El-Sayed pushed back, accusing Stevens of seeming "intent on relitigating a primary" that ended three months ago.
"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," El-Sayed said.
Axelrod also suggested Friday that Stevens could be paving the way for an endorsement of Rogers. "It feels like she's almost setting up an endorsement of Rogers," Axelrod said on "AC360," according to Newsweek.
Stevens had announced plans to appear alongside El-Sayed and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn at a Detroit church on Sunday, marking the first time in months the two Democrats were expected to appear together. Whether that event proceeds is not yet known.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, is the Democratic nominee for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat. Rogers, a former congressman, is the Republican nominee.
Stevens' statement Friday also called on El-Sayed to take down his campaign ad featuring Tucker Carlson. It did not elaborate on the reasoning. The Rebellion PAC ad is not affiliated with El-Sayed's campaign, and his campaign has not said whether it will call for the ad to be withdrawn.
The intra-party clash puts Michigan Democrats in an awkward position less than two weeks before Election Day, with control of the Senate hanging in the balance. Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, is a prominent voice on the network and his willingness to publicly criticize El-Sayed signals concern within the party's establishment about the nominee's inability to distance himself from the controversy.
Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, has not endorsed him. Her Friday statement was the sharpest break yet between the two.
Our Take
David Axelrod just handed Republicans a gift. When a former Obama adviser goes on CNN and calls a Democratic Senate nominee's ad "offensive" and inaccurate, that's not a Republican attack — that's a Democrat admitting the obvious. El-Sayed tried to blame Israel for high grocery prices. That's the kind of scapegoating that used to get people run out of polite political society. Now it's apparently standard fare for a statewide nominee in Michigan.
Republicans should run this Axelrod clip in every Michigan media market between now and November 3. El-Sayed is either too weak to condemn his own supporters or too radical to want to. Either way, Rogers should make clear that while El-Sayed is busy relitigating a primary and dodging questions about an ad his own party calls antisemitic, Michigan families are paying more for gas and groceries than they were four years ago.
The Democrats' Michigan civil war is a preview of what happens when a party's base gets consumed by foreign-policy obsessions while voters care about their wallets. Axelrod sees it. Stevens sees it. Michigan voters see it. Does El-Sayed?
