Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens haven’t campaigned together — or spoken — in recent months

With under a week to go in what many polls are showing as a still tight Senate race in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed hasn’t called his former primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens in months — and there are no plans for that to change before Election Day.

Stevens narrowly lost to El-Sayed in August after polls showed him far ahead. She appeared with him at unity events in the days immediately after, including a hug at a state party unity breakfast , but conversations quickly dried up after.

Stevens has been doing some traveling, including to Israel as well as India as part of a congressional delegation trip, but even while back in Michigan, she’s been focused on the House and other races. And while she has offered to help and El-Sayed’s campaign has absorbed some of her former campaign staff, they have not been directly in touch, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Though Stevens joined Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson for a bus tour in the state just this past weekend, she is not scheduled to make any joint appearances with El-Sayed between now and Tuesday — including the day before the election, when he is expected to headline an event in her home base of Oakland County.

Stevens has not participated in any of El-Sayed’s previous eight events in Oakland County or anywhere else in the state.

Tensions between former primary rivals aren’t unique in this year’s midterms. In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett has not campaigned with James Talarico after he beat her for the Democratic Senate nomination. But El-Sayed is still trying to motivate core Democratic constituencies despite running in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican senator in 30 years — and as his opponent, Mike Rogers, directly appeals to “Haley Stevens Democrats,” notably Black and Jewish voters who favored her.

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Both exchanged bitter and personal attacks during the primary — El-Sayed said Stevens was controlled by pro-Israel interests and “literally the least capable candidate in America,” while she said of him, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.” Neither made much effort to build the relationship afterward.

Earlier this month, El-Sayed told CNN’s Laura Coates that he hadn’t appeared with Stevens because of her “extremely busy schedule,” adding “the best use of all of our time is to touch as many people simultaneously as we can.”

Asked on Sunday by CNN’s Dana Bash if she was still fully behind El-Sayed, Stevens replied, “Look, I’m on the Democratic ticket. I can’t say that I agree with everything that’s gone on.”

An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson said, “the Abdul and Haley campaign teams remain in close communication.”

Stevens declined comment.

Frustration is flowing both ways.

Privately, multiple people who are backing El-Sayed told CNN that they think he’s lucky to be running in what appears to be such a favorable national environment for Democrats, given the shortcomings they see in his campaign. But they also reflect a sense from multiple Stevens primary supporters who told CNN that they feel El-Sayed did not do enough to reach out after his narrow primary win, and that to them he seems unwilling to move past the intra-primary Democratic fight, either rhetorically or in relationships.

Two prominent Oakland County Democrats who wanted Stevens to be the nominee said that they’ve reached out to El-Sayed to offer help and not heard back. Others say they are skipping voting in the Senate race because while they will not support Rogers, the Republican nominee, they will not go with El-Sayed.

Oakland, in the suburbs of Detroit, is home to 1.3 million voters. In 2024, the county went for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by 10.5 percentage points, but not by as much as Joe Biden won there in 2020. Stevens beat El-Sayed in Oakland County by seven points.

“I don’t think he can win without Oakland County. I think he will win Oakland, but the question is by how much,” Dave Coulter, the Oakland County executive who is the first Democrat elected to that position and who endorsed El-Sayed after the primary, told CNN.

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This all comes as some Democratic operatives around the country are quietly fuming that the race for what they believe should be a reliably blue seat is still in play and costing millions, even as the overall national political mood has been enough to buoy hopes of winning Senate seats in typically red states like Alaska, Kansas, Texas and Iowa.

Rogers continues to appeal to Jewish voters, noting a statement for which El-Sayed has apologized after an antisemitic attack at a synagogue. The Republican’s allies — notably President Donald Trump — have accused El-Sayed, who would be the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected, of being a “jihadist.” And Rogers has argued El-Sayed has links to extremist groups, allegations El-Sayed has denied and dismissed as Islamophobic.

Michigan has a straight-ticket voting option in the state that allows voters to select all the candidates from a party at once, and the state Democratic Party’s “One Michigan” coordinated campaign effort is promoting El-Sayed in Oakland County and all over the state along with other candidates.

“Democrats are coming home,” Mari Manoogian, a former state representative from Oakland County, told CNN after knocking on doors in West Bloomfield in recent days, “even with all the handwringing.”

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, whose district includes part of Oakland and who ran against both Stevens and El-Sayed before suspending her campaign, said she’s seeing many organizers around and excitement bubbling from PTA meetings to a watch party she attended for Barack Obama’s rally with El-Sayed and Benson in Detroit on Saturday.

“If I had concerns, I would raise them, but I don’t,” McMorrow said. “It feels like they’re running the campaign they need to run.”

距离密歇根州参议院选举日不到一周，许多民调显示选情依然胶着，阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德几个月来都没有给他的前党内初选对手、众议员海莉·史蒂文斯打电话——而且在选举日之前，也没有改变这一状况的计划。

8月份，史蒂文斯以微弱劣势败给了埃尔-赛义德，此前民调显示他遥遥领先。此后几天，她与埃尔-赛义德一同出席了团结活动，包括在一次州党团结早餐会上拥抱，但之后两人很快就断了联系。

史蒂文斯近期进行了一些旅行，包括随国会代表团访问以色列和印度，但即使回到密歇根州后，她也一直专注于众议院和其他竞选活动。据四位知情人士透露，虽然她表示愿意提供帮助，埃尔-赛义德的竞选团队也吸纳了她的一些前竞选团队成员，但双方并未直接联系。

尽管史蒂文斯上周末还与民主党州长候选人乔斯林·本森一起进行了一次州内巴士巡回之旅，但从现在到周二，她没有安排与埃尔-赛义德共同露面——包括选举前一天，届时埃尔-赛义德预计将在她位于奥克兰县的家乡出席一场活动。

史蒂文斯此前从未参加过埃尔-赛义德在奥克兰县或州内其他任何地方举办的八场赛事。

在今年的中期选举中，昔日党内初选对手之间的紧张关系并非个例。在德克萨斯州，众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特在被詹姆斯·塔拉里科击败赢得民主党参议员提名后，并未与他一同进行竞选活动。然而，尽管德克萨斯州30年来从未选出过共和党参议员，埃尔-赛义德仍在努力争取民主党核心选民的支持——与此同时，他的对手迈克·罗杰斯则直接向“海莉·史蒂文斯式民主党人”——尤其是那些曾支持史蒂文斯的黑人和犹太裔选民——发出呼吁。

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初选期间，两人互相进行激烈的人身攻击——埃尔-赛义德称史蒂文斯受亲以色列势力控制，是“美国最无能的候选人”，而她则反驳史蒂文斯说：“美国每个人都明白，你想把所有问题都归咎于美国犹太人。”此后，两人都没有努力修复关系。

本月初，埃尔-赛义德告诉 CNN 的劳拉·科茨，他没有和史蒂文斯一起露面，是因为她“日程安排非常繁忙”，他还补充说，“我们充分利用时间的方式就是尽可能多地同时接触更多的人。”

周日，CNN记者达娜·巴什问史蒂文斯是否仍然完全支持埃尔-赛义德，史蒂文斯回答说：“你看，我是民主党候选人。我不能说我同意所有发生的事情。”

埃尔-赛义德竞选团队发言人表示，“阿卜杜勒和黑莉的竞选团队仍保持密切沟通。”

史蒂文斯拒绝置评。

双方都感到沮丧。

私下里，多位支持埃尔-赛义德的人士告诉CNN，考虑到他们看到的他竞选中的不足，他们认为他很幸运能在目前民主党人看似如此有利的全国环境下参选。但他们的看法也反映了多位史蒂文斯初选支持者的心声，这些支持者告诉CNN，他们认为埃尔-赛义德在以微弱优势赢得初选后，并没有采取足够的行动来扩大影响力，而且在他们看来，他似乎不愿意超越民主党内部的初选之争，无论是在言辞上还是在人际关系上。

两位奥克兰县的知名民主党人原本希望史蒂文斯获得提名，他们表示已联系埃尔-赛义德提供帮助，但尚未收到回复。另一些人则表示，他们将放弃在参议院选举中投票，因为他们虽然不会支持共和党候选人罗杰斯，但也不会支持埃尔-赛义德。

底特律郊区的奥克兰县拥有130万选民。2024年，该县以10.5个百分点的优势支持民主党总统候选人卡马拉·哈里斯，但不如乔·拜登在2020年赢得该县的幅度大。史蒂文斯在奥克兰县以7个百分点的优势击败了埃尔-赛义德。

“我认为他如果拿不到奥克兰县的选票就赢不了。我认为他会赢得奥克兰县，但问题是能赢多少，”奥克兰县行政长官戴夫·库尔特（Dave Coulter）告诉CNN。库尔特是第一位当选该职位的民主党人，他在初选后支持了埃尔-赛义德。

比尔·普利亚诺/法新社/盖蒂图片社

与此同时，全国各地的一些民主党人士私下里非常愤怒，他们认为原本应该是民主党稳固席位的竞选仍在进行中，耗资数百万美元，尽管全国整体的政治氛围足以提振在阿拉斯加、堪萨斯、德克萨斯和爱荷华等传统共和党州赢得参议院席位的希望。

罗杰斯继续争取犹太选民的支持，并指出埃尔-赛义德曾就一起发生在犹太教堂的反犹袭击事件道歉。这位共和党人的盟友——尤其是唐纳德·特朗普总统——指责埃尔-赛义德是“圣战分子”，如果当选，他将成为美国首位穆斯林参议员。罗杰斯还声称埃尔-赛义德与极端组织有联系，但埃尔-赛义德否认了这些指控，并称其为仇视伊斯兰教的言论。

密歇根州实行一键投票制，允许选民一次性选择同一政党的所有候选人。该州民主党发起的“一个密歇根”协调竞选活动正在奥克兰县和全州范围内推广埃尔-赛义德以及其他候选人。

“民主党人正在回家，”来自奥克兰县的前州代表玛丽·马努吉安 (Mari Manoogian) 近日在西布卢姆菲尔德挨家挨户敲门后告诉 CNN，“即使大家都在忧心忡忡。”

州参议员马洛里·麦克莫罗的选区包括奥克兰的部分地区，她曾在竞选期间与史蒂文斯和埃尔-赛义德竞争，之后暂停了竞选活动。她说，她看到很多组织者在四处奔走，从家长教师协会的会议到她周六在底特律与埃尔-赛义德和本森一起参加的巴拉克·奥巴马集会的观看派对，到处都洋溢着兴奋的气氛。

“如果我有什么顾虑，我会提出来，但我没有，”麦克莫罗说。“感觉他们正在按部就班地进行竞选活动。”