The campaign of Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed will hire a liaison to Michigan’s Jewish community, marking his latest attempt to ease tensions with a historically Democratic voting bloc.
El Sayed’s team is vetting candidates for the outreach role, according to a campaign spokeswoman. The hiring decision is part of an olive branch to Jewish officials in the state who have expressed reservations about his candidacy, including March comments that were interpreted as justifying the car-ramming of a West Bloomfield synagogue.
El Sayed denounced the terrorist attack, perpetrated by a Lebanese-born man who lost family in an Israeli airstrike, but qualified at the time that “violence is a cycle” and that “hurt people hurt people.”
On Saturday, el Sayed apologized to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus for those remarks and a day later attended the group’s “Summer Simcha” celebration.
“If I had the opportunity to take it back, I would take it all the way back,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Sunday.
El Sayed’s comments come as Republican nominee Mike Rogers attempts to court the roughly 100,000 Jewish residents of Michigan, a top-tier battleground state that could decide which party controls the Senate next year. Rogers lost his 2024 race for Senate to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) by 19,000 votes.
El Sayed won the Democratic nomination for the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) earlier this month, overcoming tens of millions spent against him, much of it from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But he continues to face skepticism from the Jewish community over his stance on American military aid — el Sayed supports ending all U.S. assistance to Israel, including funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system.
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He has also struggled to shake his decision to campaign with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker during the primary. Piker is an outspoken critic of Israel who drew renewed scrutiny this month for suggesting that American Jews who support Israel were to blame for the acts of violence against them.
El Sayed distanced himself from Piker in light of those comments but continues to face scrutiny from members of his own party. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) has not endorsed el Sayed due to his past association with Piker.