El-Sayed campaign pulls in $1.2M after Stevens backs Republican Rogers

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed raised $1.2 million in just four hours after his former primary rival, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in the Michigan Senate race .

The fundraising surge marks El-Sayed’s second-best, single-day haul since winning the Democratic nomination in August. Politico first reported the figures, which The Hill independently confirmed with the progressive’s campaign.

According to Politico, the Democratic National Committee and El-Sayed sent a joint fundraising email on Sunday evening, in which the subject line read: “Who this election is actually about?”

“Some people would love for the last days of this race to be about politicians,” the Democrat wrote in the email. “I will not be distracted.”

Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday, just two days before the election, following a bitter public feud with El-Sayed. Democrats are seeking to hang on to the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and her backing the GOP nominee could cost Democrats a crucial seat as it seeks to win a Senate majority.

The move also put Stevens at major odds with fellow Democrats. Axios also reported that several House Democrats, including Reps. Lateefah Simon (Calif.), Marc Veasey (Texas) and Emily Randall (Wash.), called for her expulsion from the House Democratic Caucus.

The Michigan Democrat, who lost to El-Sayed in August, had initially endorsed him after her defeat. But tensions between the two escalated last week after Stevens demanded that he apologize for comments he previously made about Israel and to disavow a campaign ad that some critics viewed as antisemitic.

Stevens’s fiance, who is Jewish, recently said he would back Rogers in the general election.

El-Sayed refused to apologize and later made clear Stevens was not welcome at a Sunday campaign event where other Democrats had hoped to bring the former rivals together.

“As you may have seen, our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign, and that I should stay away. And he’s right,” Stevens said in a video posted online Sunday. “And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”

At least eight House Democrats have called for Stevens to be removed or otherwise disciplined by party leadership, according to Politico . Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) criticized the lawmaker for “supporting a candidate for Senate that is a rubber stamp for Trump’s disastrous and dangerous administration.”