El-Sayed, Stevens split over ads before Michigan vote

Campaign dispute

Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign asked Rep. Haley Stevens to stay away from its remaining campaign events in the final days before the Nov. 3 election. El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, while Stevens was his opponent in the Democratic primary.

The two had been expected to appear together Sunday at a Detroit church with Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. The event was intended to encourage Black voters to support El-Sayed.

On Friday, Stevens urged El-Sayed to condemn an outside group’s advertisement connecting U.S. military aid to Israel with higher grocery prices. Stevens described the advertisement as antisemitic. She also called for El-Sayed to apologize for earlier remarks that she said connected U.S. support for Israel with affordability problems in Michigan.

Stevens separately asked El-Sayed to remove a campaign advertisement featuring conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. El-Sayed’s campaign said it was not affiliated with the outside group’s advertisement.

Final weekend

The dispute came as candidates in closely watched House and Senate contests made their final appeals to voters. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, three days after the campaign split became public.

President Trump held a rally in Florida during the closing week of the midterm campaign. After changing his plans, he also said he would hold rallies in Kansas and Ohio over the weekend.

Separate election disputes were unfolding in Alaska and California. The Justice Department sought to separate some Alaska Senate ballots during an inquiry into how a man with nearly the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan appeared on the ballot. Democrat Mary Peltola denied involvement. In California, a judge temporarily ordered the federal government to stop directing state and local officials to separate or withhold certain ballots involving alleged noncitizens.