DETROIT — Abdul El-Sayed called Rep. Haley Stevens’ endorsement of his Republican opponent in the Michigan Senate race a “distraction” on Sunday.
Stevens, a Michigan Democrat who El-Sayed defeated in the Senate primary, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers earlier in the day. Her decision to back Rogers drew criticism from other Democrats who said the focus should be on beating him, in a race that could help determine which party controls the Senate.
“This is a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from the government,” El-Sayed told reporters outside of Northend Church of God in Christ in Detroit. “I’m a lot more focused on the 9,999,998 that are not the ones you guys are talking about.”
El-Sayed, whose campaign has tried to steer the message back to Rogers, tried to address the needs of Michiganders rather than the drama created by Stevens.
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“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he said when asked if Stevens had betrayed the Democratic Party. “I think about the, like I said, the 9,999,998 people who are not those two. Because you know what? I’m just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all.”
Stevens was originally slated to appear alongside El-Sayed and other high-profile Democrats at the event at the church on Sunday, before she demanded he apologize for his past criticism of Israel. She was eventually uninvited from the event.
Instead, she appeared with Rogers at church before releasing her endorsement.
El-Sayed, a progressive, was flanked by high-profile Democratic surrogates who traveled to the state to campaign, including Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland). Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who is running in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District against Republican candidate T.P. Nykoriak and other third-party candidates, also appeared.
Clyburn, a centrist Democrat with a lot of sway within the Democratic party, began his remarks to reporters by saying that El-Sayed’s campaign showed that the Democratic Party is the “party of a big tent.”
“Everything else is a distraction from what we’re all about, and we know what we have in this young man for the future of this country,” Clyburn said, not directly mentioning the controversy or calling Stevens by name.
There’s skepticism among Democrats that Stevens’ endorsement will ultimately affect the race. But it did prompt immediate rebukes from national Democrats.
“I’m very disappointed,” Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), who endorsed Stevens in the Senate Democratic primary, told The Washington Sun in a text. “Instead of working in a vacuum and making decisions hastily, under stress, she should have reached out and asked for help. So many people in our caucus would have been more than willing to talk her [through] this and offer sage advice. Instead, she burned everything that she worked hard to build, down in a time frame of 24 hours. And, at the end of the day, [it] buys her absolutely nothing.”
He added: “Abdul is going to win. Abdul got this!”
Still, the endorsement was campaign fodder for Republicans, for everyone from Rogers to President Donald Trump.
As the press conference wrapped up, reporters continued to shout questions at El-Sayed including, “Does this change the outcome of the race?”
El-Sayed, looking frustrated with the questions about Stevens, responded: “None of this matters.”
He pointed down the block and said families nearby who are struggling to feed their children and pay medical bills matter more.
“The rest of this is just a distraction.”
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