With Michigan’s Senate election days away, Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers after losing the Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed, igniting a party dispute over Israel and the campaign’s direction.

The clash reflects wider Democratic divisions over Israel, party leadership and political rhetoric, with the debate likely to extend beyond the election into the 2028 presidential nominating process.

Stevens had been expected to attend a church unity event with El-Sayed and Rep. James Clyburn, but withdrew after making her participation conditional on El-Sayed rejecting an ad and apologizing; the event went ahead without her.

The rupture threatens Democratic unity in a Senate contest Republicans see as a strong opportunity, even as a New York Times–Siena University poll released Sunday showed El-Sayed leading Rogers by 11 percentage points.

The dispute has raised concerns about support among Jewish voters and Jewish safety; Rabbi Aaron Starr said El-Sayed’s language had become more troubling, while Rogers predicted he could win as much as half of the Jewish vote.

Despite condemnation of an advertisement by some Democrats and Jewish leaders, Jewish Democratic congressional nominees Brad Lander and Daniel Bliss urged voters to back El-Sayed, framing the race around accountability, affordability and democracy.

Peters reiterated his support for El-Sayed and said a Democratic Senate majority was needed to check Donald Trump, while Tlaib urged voters to turn out and Slotkin called Stevens’s timing a distraction from the fight to regain congressional control.

El-Sayed downplayed Stevens’s endorsement as a distraction and said he was focused on health care, public education, infrastructure and families’ cost-of-living concerns.

The dispute unfolded as Democrats sought to present a united front and boost turnout, especially in Detroit; more than 1.8 million Michiganders had voted by Friday.

The divisions matter in Wayne and Oakland counties, which Stevens won in the primary and where Black and Jewish voters are important to the Democratic coalition; Democrats say strong turnout in Detroit is critical to their statewide prospects.

Voter responses were mixed: Dearborn reported a record-paced final day of early in-person voting, while some voters criticized Stevens’s endorsement and one resident said he had shifted from backing Trump and Republicans to voting for El-Sayed.

By Sunday morning, 2,174,173 of Michigan’s 7,418,587 active registered voters had cast ballots, a turnout rate of 29.3%, according to the Michigan Voting Dashboard.