Michigan Democratic Senate nominee asks rival Haley Stevens to stay away from campaign events

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat, has asked fellow Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens to stay away from his campaign events, including a planned joint appearance at a Detroit church on Sunday, The Guardian reported. El-Sayed defeated Stevens in the party's primary, the contest in which voters pick a party's candidate before the general election.

The request came in the final days of the race. POLITICO reported that two people familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive campaign matters, said Stevens should stay away from all future campaign events. One of them said she should do so "as not to distract from the central issues of the campaign."

Speaking to reporters on Saturday after a rally in Sterling Heights, a suburb in Macomb County outside Detroit, El-Sayed said, "I don't want any distractions." He also said Stevens "seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago."

The two had been on friendlier terms earlier in the year. Stevens endorsed El-Sayed shortly after he won the August primary. The Guardian reported that two days before the planned joint appearance, Stevens demanded that El-Sayed denounce an outside group's advertisement that blamed higher prices on U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, also a Michigan Democrat, said she had spoken with Stevens about appearing alongside El-Sayed and told her, "This isn't working."

Some Democrats worry that the dispute could put the party's hold on the Senate seat at risk, according to POLITICO. The race will be decided by Michigan voters in the November general election, in which El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers.