{
  "id": 17454254,
  "title": "Centrist Democrats Would Rather Lose the Senate Than Win With El-Sayed",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/centrist-democrats-would-rather-lose-the-senate-than-win-with-el-sayed-17454254",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-31T18:49:42.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Intercept",
    "slug": "the-intercept",
    "url": "https://theintercept.com/2026/10/31/centrist-democrats-el-sayed-senate-israel/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "As the Senate election in Michigan looms, centrist Democrats find themselves in a bind. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic primary winner for the Senate seat, could be the first Muslim in the Senate. However, his opposition to Israel's military actions against Palestinians has put him at odds with the party's pro-Israel wing.\n\nRep. Haley Stevens, who lost the primary to El-Sayed, has distanced herself from the campaign, denouncing El-Sayed as an \"antisemite and a bigot.\" Stevens has called on El-Sayed to retract an ad produced by The Young Turks that tied rising domestic prices to U.S. financial support for Israel's military. Stevens has demanded that El-Sayed pull another advertisement featuring Tucker Carlson, who said he would never support the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers.\n\nStevens has also demanded that El-Sayed remove an ad featuring far-right broadcaster Tucker Carlson. She claims El-Sayed is disinterested in the concerns of Black Michiganders. Despite the backlash, Stevens seems undeterred, using the condemnation of El-Sayed as a springboard for a scathing denouncement framed as a \"celebration\" of her decision to campaign for him. The effort to take El-Sayed down is seen as a show of force to keep donors and the party's right wing happy, but it may backfire as party elites, including former President Barack Obama, are backing the El-Sayed campaign.",
  "summary": "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 .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}