在两人定于周日在底特律共同出席一场集会前几天，阿卜杜勒·埃尔-萨耶德和众议员海莉·史蒂文斯（民主党-密歇根州）周五在各自发布的声明中互相批评，将埃尔-萨耶德竞选参议员最后阶段的紧张关系推向高潮。
Days before they are set to headline a rally in Detroit, Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., traded critical messages in statements released Friday, escalating tensions between the two in the final days of El-Sayed’s campaign for Senate.
史蒂文斯表示，她预计埃尔-萨耶德——这位在8月一场激烈的民主党初选中击败她的进步派候选人——将正式谴责一个外部进步团体发布的、她称为反犹太主义的广告，并补充说，这也是她同意首次于周日与埃尔-萨耶德同台竞选的原因。“这则广告告诉密歇根州的家庭，他们买不起食品杂货，是因为他们的钱必须留出来用于‘杀害巴勒斯坦人’，并将密歇根人买不起的一切归咎于我们的亲密盟友以色列，”史蒂文斯在声明中说。
Stevens said that she expected El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who defeated her in a bitter Democratic primary in August, to formally condemn an ad from an outside progressive group that she called antisemitic, adding that it’s why she agreed to join El-Sayed on the campaign trail for the first time on Sunday. “This ad tells Michigan families they cannot afford groceries because their money has to be set aside for ‘killing Palestinians,’ and it blames our close ally Israel for everything Michiganders cannot afford,” Stevens said in a statement.
她试图将这则广告——背景设在杂货店，暗示以色列和加沙战争是美国物价上涨的罪魁祸首——与埃尔-萨耶德在自己竞选中发表的言论联系起来。“因此，我预计他也会为那些言论道歉，”史蒂文斯说。“阿卜杜勒承诺让金钱退出政治。他可以从把以色列从他对密歇根州买不起一切的解释中剔除开始。”
She sought to tie the ad — which is set in a grocery store and suggests Israel and the war in Gaza are to blame for rising prices in America — to comments El-Sayed has made in his own campaign. “I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well,” Stevens said. “Abdul promises to get money out of politics. He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”
埃尔-萨耶德与制作该广告的团体“反叛政治行动委员会”没有关联，他的竞选团队本周早些时候在给《纽约时报》的声明中已与该广告划清界限。史蒂文斯还呼吁埃尔-萨耶德撤下自己的一个广告，该广告出现了右翼评论员塔克·卡尔森，“基于对密歇根州黑人社区同样的尊重”。
El-Sayed is not affiliated with the group that produced the ad, Rebellion PAC, and his campaign distanced itself from the ad in statements to The New York Times earlier this week. Stevens also called on El-Sayed to take down one of his own ads that featured right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson “out of the same respect for Michigan’s Black community.”
作为以色列的直言不讳的批评者，埃尔-萨耶德周五予以反击，在声明中表示，作为以色列坚定支持者的史蒂文斯“似乎执意要重新诉讼三个月前已结束的初选”，而他的竞选团队的重点在于负担能力和医疗保健。
El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, shot back Friday, saying in a statement that Stevens, a strong supporter of Israel, “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago” and that his campaign’s focus was on affordability and health care.
“正是这种关注，使我们以民众为本的竞选活动击败了大公司和美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）代表史蒂文斯众议员投入的创纪录的7000万美元外部资金，”埃尔-赛义德说，他指的是史蒂文斯在初选期间获得了亲以色列游说团体美国以色列公共事务委员会的支持。这次交锋发生在前初选对手似乎已达成和解、同意于周日在底特律与资深民主党领袖、众议员吉姆·克莱伯恩（民主党-南卡罗来纳州）同台出席活动之后。
“That focus is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens,” El-Sayed said, referencing Stevens’ support from the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, during the primary. The exchange comes after the former primary opponents had seemingly reached a reconciliation, agreeing to appear at an event in Detroit alongside senior Democratic leader Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., on Sunday.
事态升级距离选民在埃尔-赛义德和共和党候选人迈克·罗杰斯之间选出下一任密歇根州联邦参议员仅剩四天，无党派的《库克政治报告》将该竞选评为势均力敌。目前不清楚史蒂文斯和埃尔-赛义德周五的声明是否会影响他们周日的露面。史蒂文斯和埃尔-赛义德的代表在被要求就两人是否仍计划出席活动发表进一步评论时，均未作出回应。
The escalation is also playing out four days before voters will choose between El-Sayed and Republican candidate Mike Rogers to be the next Michigan senator in a race the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up. It’s unclear whether Stevens’ and El-Sayed’s Friday statements will affect their appearance Sunday. Representatives for Stevens and El-Sayed did not respond when asked for additional comment and whether the two still planned to appear at the event.
周三，史蒂文斯接受CNN采访时表示她将投票给埃尔-赛义德，同时呼吁他谴责“反抗政治行动委员会”（Rebellion PAC）的广告。此次采访是在史蒂文斯的未婚夫杰森·土耳其人告诉《底特律新闻》他将投票给罗杰斯后不久进行的。“我当然会投票给我们的民主党参议员提名人，”史蒂文斯说。“我会投民主党全票。但我希望敦促这场竞选活动摒弃仇恨，指出仇恨，让我的联盟中的人们感到安心去投票。”
On Wednesday, Stevens sat for an interview on CNN in which she signaled she would vote for El-Sayed while also calling on him to denounce the ad from Rebellion PAC. That interview came shortly after Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News that he was voting for Rogers. “Of course I’m voting for our Democratic nominee for Senate,” Stevens said. “I’m voting for the Democratic ticket. But I want to encourage this campaign to shut out the hate and to call it out and to make people who are in my coalition, make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls.”
埃尔-赛义德和史蒂文斯之间的紧张关系牵扯进了其他密歇根州民主党人，因为该党希望在争夺国会控制权的竞争中确保这一关键的参议院席位。“首先，我完全搞不懂海莉·史蒂文斯在搞什么，”密歇根州参议员马洛里·麦克莫罗周五在CNN上说。“这是一个我们必须认识到利害攸关的时刻。”民主党众议员密歇根州国会代表团资深成员黛比·丁格尔在NBC新闻节目《会见新闻界》中试图淡化这场冲突，她周五表示，自己协助克莱伯恩促成了周日的活动，克莱伯恩与史蒂文斯关系密切。
The tensions between El-Sayed and Stevens have drawn in other Michigan Democrats as the party hopes to secure a critical Senate seat in the race to control Congress. “First of all, I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said Friday on CNN. “This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes.”Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior member of Michigan’s delegation, sought to downplay the conflict on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” saying Friday that she helped broker the event Sunday with Clyburn, who is close with Stevens.
丁格尔说：“我认为，坦率地说，很多人试图在这里制造更多争议，而我认为真正的讨论应该集中在华盛顿发生了什么，以及我们如何对抗过去两年所看到的情况。”
“I think that, quite frankly, a lot of people are trying to create more controversy here, when I think the real discussion should be about what’s been happening in Washington and how we’ve got to stand up to what we’ve seen in the last two years,” Dingell said.