El-Sayed Boots Haley Stevens From Detroit Rally After She Demands He Condemn Cenk Uygur’s ‘Killing Palestinians’ Egg Ad

Written By TNT Staff, Posted on November 1, 2026

Two days before Michigan picks a senator, Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed has thrown his own former rival off the stage. His campaign asked Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) to stay away from his events, and she is off today’s planned unity appearance with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) at a Detroit church, POLITICO and NBC News reported.

Her offense was asking him to condemn an ad.

The $7 eggs

The ad comes from Rebellion PAC, the group fronted by Young Turks host Cenk Uygur. Two actors in a grocery store put back a carton of eggs, saying “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians,” according to mlive. A new ending attacks Republican nominee Mike Rogers: “Mike Rogers is for they/them,” the narrator says over photos of Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, before “Abdul El-Sayed is for you,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Most of it is recycled from Uygur’s 2024 presidential run.

Uygur posted it on X, promising it was “dropping in Michigan” and writing, “We have to suffer here at home, so Israel can get all its wars. That’s why they buy politicians like Mike Rogers,” per Jewish Insider. Rebellion PAC co-founder Brianna Wu disavowed and condemned the ad, Jewish Insider said.

The buy was tiny. A Rebellion PAC spokesperson told JTA it was spending $1,000, online only, and the PAC’s FEC 24-hour report lists a $1,000 digital buy opposing Rogers. The PAC has reported $381,586 in receipts since January 2025, almost all from individuals and about three-quarters in unitemized small donations, according to the FEC. The controversy was much bigger than the ad buy.

Stevens: the ad came from his own words

Stevens, who lost the August primary to El-Sayed narrowly, said in a statement on X: “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,” as quoted by NBC News. She called it antisemitic, NBC reported.

She did not stop at the PAC. “The ad did not invent its argument; it dramatized one Dr. El-Sayed has made in his own words throughout this campaign: that Israel is the reason Michigan cannot afford schools, healthcare, and child care,” she said, per The Hill. “I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well.” And: “Abdul promises to get money out of politics. He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford.”

El-Sayed: ‘distractions’

El-Sayed’s campaign had already said, “This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign… No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” through spokesperson Roxie Richner. He replied to Stevens on Friday that she “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.”

On Saturday in Sterling Heights, he went further than before: “I do not agree with the contents of that ad.” Then he explained why she was out: “I don’t want any distractions,” he told mlive. “It seems as though other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.”

Who pulled the plug is disputed. Rep. Debbie Dingell said on CNN, “I’m the one that talked to Haley and I am the one that said, ‘This isn’t working.'” But Clyburn adviser Antjuan Seawright told The New York Times, “This is not Abdul’s event. The invitation still stands,” according to The Hill. As of this writing, the campaign’s advisory lists only El-Sayed and Clyburn, NBC reported.

Stevens answered Saturday night: “I was glad to see our senate nominee say he does not agree with the content of the vile Rebellion PAC ad, which claimed Israel and Jews were to blame for the high costs of groceries.” She still plans to vote for him, she told the Times, per NBC.

The stakes

The open seat is one POLITICO calls pivotal, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates it a toss-up, according to NBC. Public polls show El-Sayed ahead: a 270toWin average of six recent polls puts him at 49.8% to Rogers’s 44.3%, and Mitchell Research had him up 51-44 for CBS Detroit.

A party that calls itself the home of tolerance had a Jewish-community fight to settle, with Michigan’s Jewish voters already uneasy about El-Sayed’s attacks on Israel, as JTA noted. A Democratic congresswoman asked her nominee for a clear condemnation. He took a week to say he disagreed, and he still won’t stand next to her. That leaves this question for Tuesday.

Readers may remember TNT’s earlier report on El-Sayed’s name on a 2012 letter backing Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi. That letter and this ad feed the same doubt about him.

TNT Staff