The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent nearly $30 million on ads against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, financing both establishment Democrats and Republicans. The news did not sit well with some Michigan Democratic voters, who accused candidate Haley Stevens of engaging in friendly fire during the primaries.
According to The Intercept, El-Sayed has faced a wave of Islamophobic and anti-Arab attacks during his campaign, with online accounts calling him a “terrorist sympathizer” and “jihadist.” The trend was not entirely ignored by Republican candidate Mike Rogers and El-Sayed’s Democratic adversary, Haley Stevens.
The report highlights that Stevens’s main political backers are heavily attacking El-Sayed. While the politician has tried to distance herself from the explicitly racist attacks, the two candidates have a stark disagreement over Israel, and Stevens’s campaign has benefited from the bigotry.
In a recent controversy, Stevens reportedly sent out false information about El-Sayed, claiming that Rogers had endorsed him.
Michigan Reacts to ‘Islamophobic’ Attacks on El-Sayed
While these reports have not surprised the local community on Reddit’s r/Michigan, they have certainly irritated users. One of them said: “Breaking! The sun rose today. The GOP and establishment Democrats are not much in opposition to one another.”
Most people focused on complaining about Stevens: “GOP is always going to do what they will do, but I really can’t wait to never hear about Stevens again. The endless attack ads from all angles, including Islamophobic, are tacky.” Some folks agreed: “I have seen some of the most vile, racist attacks toward not only Abdul El-Sayed, but toward Palestinians in Gaza, and just toward Arab and Persian people in general, coming primarily from Democrats who support Haley Stevens.”
Others criticized her ads: “What’s hilarious is that in the ad I saw, the Islamophobia comes right before a bunch of grandiose comparisons to Obama. (…) As if Obama himself didn’t also suffer from a ton of Islamophobic attack ads from within the party, and he’s not even Muslim. Beyond parody.”
This led some likely Democratic voters to even claim that they may not vote for her if El-Sayed is defeated in the upcoming primaries: “If she wins the primary, she’ll be the first Democrat in my 32 years of voting I’ll refuse to vote for.”
With the Democratic primaries coming up in Michigan soon, the attacks will likely heat up even more, and they could become even more intense if El-Sayed is nominated for the general election.
