Haley Stevens and former Michigan health official Abdul El-Sayed faced off in a televised Democratic primary debate on July 7, 2026, for the Michigan Senate seat. The debate occurred two days after state Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign, reshaping the competitive primary race.

McMorrow had positioned herself as a centrist between Stevens, a moderate backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and El-Sayed, a progressive supported by Senator Bernie Sanders. The winner of the primary will advance to challenge former GOP Representative Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost his previous Senate bid.

During the debate, El-Sayed criticized Stevens for avoiding a direct answer regarding her campaign's backing by the pro-Israel political action committee AIPAC. Stevens described her campaign as "a love letter to our state" while listing other supporters. El-Sayed responded, "You're also just not answering the question."

El-Sayed further stated, "Let me tell you what absolutely would not shape my perception — it's AIPAC money, which is being spent already in this race to pump up one of my colleagues on this stage." He suggested that AIPAC donor money has been used to elect lawmakers who oppose cutting U.S. funding for Israel. He also expressed opposition to U.S. taxpayer dollars funding military aid abroad, saying, "I don't think that our taxpayer dollars, which we pay every April, ought to be going to bomb children, to fund bombs and tanks for other countries when we got kids who can't afford basic things in our own."

The debate highlighted the ideological divide within the Democratic primary and the influence of outside political action committees in the race.

Caitlin Yilek, a politics reporter at CBSNews.com based in Washington, D.C., covered the debate. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Sources