5 questions for U.S. Senate candidates Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed
It’s the lightning round: 5 questions for Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed debated for the final time ahead of the Aug. 4 primary on Monday, July 27, each attempting to define the other as an unsuitable choice to represent Michigan while trying to cast themselves as better positioned to win in November.
In a debate hosted by Fox 2 Detroit, Stevens, of Birmingham, and El-Sayed, of Ann Arbor, replayed many of the claims, attacks and policy positions each has laid out in three previous debates in one of the most aggressive, closely fought and expensive Democratic primary battles in the state’s recent history.
But with much on the line − an open U.S. Senate seat and Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake waiting in the wings to face the Democratic winner with a well-funded machine and President Donald Trump’s backing − Monday’s debate also saw the candidates somewhat more insistent, if not sometimes reckless, in how they tried to define themselves and disassemble their opponent, as well as showing a tendency to dodge some direct answers.
Here are a few highlights:
Stevens relies on unproven claim regarding Rogers’ choice of rivals
One of Stevens’ strongest claims in the race has been that, as the more moderate candidate in a moderate state, she has a better chance to beat Rogers. She may be right. On Monday, she repeated it again, saying “Michigan deserves a senator who can win and who can deliver.” But then she repeated an unproven claim by her campaign that Rogers had told supporters that El-Sayed “is the one he wants to run against.” A CNN report said Rogers told supporters his campaign would be “in good shape” if he ran against El-Sayed, who is more progressive than Stevens. That is standard campaign speech for a candidate, full stop. Absent a specific statement from Rogers that he might fare worse against Stevens (which CNN did not report, and it was unclear CNN had reviewed the entire video of Rogers speaking with supporters), there isn’t evidence of any such claim.
El-Sayed asked about ‘ogre on a pike’ comment
Moderator Roop Raj, who did an admirable job of trying to keep the candidates on point throughout the debate, directly asked El-Sayed about civility in the race. Raj noted a recent call with donors reported by Politico, in which El-Sayed spoke about how he would use his position in the Senate and as a leader of the progressive movement to instigate challenges against Democrats who don’t live up to the party’s values. Invoking U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has broken with Democratic colleagues several times, El-Sayed said, “Ideally you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message.” The report led to some Democrats decrying El-Sayed’s tone. In response to Raj’s question, El-Sayed noted he had publicly asked supporters not to tone down personal criticisms of Stevens (which he has) but never directly said whether he believed the “ogre on a pike” remark was over the civility line or not.
Stevens’ financial backers remain a central question
As in past debates, the tens of millions of dollars in outside spending from groups for Stevens in this race was a central part of this debate, though this time El-Sayed, while arguing that she is too cozy with corporate backers, said she had received tens of thousands from DTE’s political action committee. Now, this could be an important point, since DTE has come under fire for reliability issues at the same time it’s raising rates. When Raj asked Stevens if she was getting financial backing from DTE’s PAC, she said, flatly, “No.” That’s not the whole story, however. Bridge Michigan has reported she and a supporting campaign committee have gotten $45,000 from DTE’s PAC over the years. Her Senate campaign hasn’t gotten funded directly, though.
Some key differences between them
Maybe more than in other debates, there were some exchanges that seemed to break through the attacks and suggest what might be substantive differences between the candidates. For instance, while both have said in the past they would support getting rid of the 60-vote filibuster threshold (which makes it harder to advance legislation) in the Senate if elected, only El-Sayed said it was a key priority. Stevens, however, talked about her “understanding of what makes our state tick.” She leaned into her substantial record as a proponent of manufacturing in the state; El-Sayed said steps must be taken to limit corporate stock buybacks and return wealth to workers. He spoke of dismantling Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying any immigration role it has could be better served by some other agency. Stevens has ably defended herself on suggestions she’s soft on ICE in the past but did not try to rebut El-Sayed’s claims she has voted for appropriations bills funding them (and other agencies) in the past, as have many other more-institutional Democrats (especially under Democratic administrations). “Complaints and slogans aren’t solutions,” she said. As for El-Sayed, he said, “I do the thing I say I’m going to do.”
Most memorable lines
From El-Sayed, it came after he was asked about the role of democratic socialism in this race, given that many of those backing him ascribe to that political philosophy. “I’m not a socialist, I’m a capitalist who knows how capitalism works,” El-Sayed said, raising concerns about monopolies and corporate power. For Stevens, who served on former President Barack Obama’s auto task force that helped save General Motors and Chrysler, it was when she defined herself as “Michigan’s manufacturing geek,” adding, “I have a deep passion for the bread and butter of our state and a deep understanding of it.”
Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on X @tsspangler.
