Centrist Democrats Would Rather Lose the Senate Than Win With El-Sayed
With Haley Stevens’s demand for an apology from the candidate who beat her, the party’s moderates are making clear they’d rather lose than empower a progressive wing critical of Israel. The post Centrist Democrats Would Rather Lose the Senate Than Win With El-Sayed appeared first on The Intercept .
Abdul El-Sayed, a centrist Democrat, faced intense pressure from moderate Democrats to distance himself from an ad produced by Cenk Uygur's Rebellion PAC, which connected rising domestic prices to U.S. financial support of Israel's military. Despite distancing himself from the ad, El-Sayed and his campaign were still targeted by a scathing denouncement by Haley Stevens, a House member who lost to El-Sayed in Michigan's Democratic primary for Senate.
Stevens, who framed the denouncement as a "celebration" of her decision to campaign for El-Sayed, accused El-Sayed of being an antisemite and a bigot. This last-minute effort came as establishment Democrats saw El-Sayed as an existential threat due to his opposition to Israel's actions in Palestine. The effort may have backfired as a faction of party elites, led by former President Barack Obama, began putting their muscle behind the El-Sayed campaign.
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