Abdul El-Sayed’s former Democratic rival is getting hammered by fellow left-wingers online for failing to explicitly endorse him during a weekend television appearance.
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that she broadly supports her state party’s ticket for the coming midterm elections.
“Look, I’m on the Democratic ticket. I can’t say that I agree with everything that’s gone on,” Stevens answered. “I’m looking to be on the team to support my next governor, Jocelyn Benson, and frankly, these great Democrats who are working their tails off, who are going to make Hakeem Jeffries the first Black Speaker of the House.”
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When pressed about El-Sayed specifically, she said, “Well, look, I would just say, if you had asked me if I’m still on the team, I’m on the team.”
But that was not enough for progressives, who promptly accused Stevens of undermining her fellow Democrat.
“Ridiculous. For all the folks still pretending El-Sayed’s race is the same as [Roy Cooper’s] or [Mary Peltola’s], do they have former Dem rivals refusing to fully endorse them on national TV? ‘Blue no matter who’ was a hypocritical centrist lie and this hypocrisy may hurt Dems in 2028,” Mehdi Hasan wrote on X, referring to Democrat Senate races in North Carolina and Alaska.
Leah Greenberg, who leads the progressive activist group Indivisible, wrote, “It is late October and people are voting every day, if you cannot give a full-throated endorsement to the Democratic nominee who could be the key vote in flipping the Senate, then stay the f— off television.”
Former congressional candidate Kyle Blomquist accused Stevens of “practically fawning over Mike Rogers” and said “her only real ideological commitment is to zionism.”
Progressive commentator Emma Vigeland wrote on X, “There are financial and institutional incentives to remain on the side of genocide. Stevens is sabotaging El-Sayed on national TV, one week before the midterm, to protect her pocketbook and career over democracy.”
More moderate and establishment-friendly Democrats pushed back on some of the criticism.
Strategist Lis Smith responded to Hasan, “People—Democrats, Republicans, Independents—clamoring to support the Peltolas and Coopers is actually a validation of their candidate quality! It’s good to have candidates people want to associate with and that should be a factor when assessing candidate quality!”
El-Sayed edged Stevens out by just 1% in the Michigan primary earlier this year, after fellow Democrat Mallory McMorrow dropped out of the race.
El-Sayed won 48.5% of the vote compared to Stevens’ 47.5%, with McMorrow netting 4%.
Stevens was notably the establishment-backed pick with support from top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. El-Sayed is backed by “Squad” Democrats like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Fox News Digital reached out to Stevens for comment on the online backlash but did not immediately hear back.