Michigan Democrats stressed party unity during their nominating convention Saturday in Lansing.
Disagreements within the party about foreign policy and campaign style have lingered since the August 4 primary. One of the biggest subplots going into Saturday’s convention focused on Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s relationship with the party’s Jewish delegation.
El-Sayed has frequently criticized Israel’s bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, and U.S. support for it. Some Jewish Democrats in Michigan have said they fear El-Sayed stoked antisemitism by calling out the pro-Israel lobby donations as having outsized influence in American politics.
El-Sayed says he can disagree with some Democrats on Israeli policy while also uniting against President Donald Trump and Republican candidates that support Trump’s policies.
“I believe in the safety and the dignity of Jewish kids, like I believe in the safety and dignity of my own kids. And we can show here in Michigan how we can disagree agreeably on some of those issues having to do with what we do 6,000 miles away,” El-Sayed told reporters.
Earlier in the day, he apologized to the party’s Jewish Caucus for comments he made this past spring following an attempted terrorist attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
“To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I'm really sorry. That was not my intention. We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright. What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened. But it wasn't the time for context. And you don't ever want to trample somebody's pain,” El-Sayed told media.
Authorities allege the attacker was misguidedly responding to Israeli bombings that killed his family members abroad.
El-Sayed plans to continue meeting with members of the Jewish community on Sunday.
Democrats tried to overcome hard feelings left over from the primary election at the convention by trying to tie their Republican opponents to President Donald Trump’s policies.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is the Democratic nominee for governor. She said she believes everyone is united in their message.
“You’re going to hear us all talking about driving down the cost of healthcare, you are going to hear all of us talking about the need to grow our economy, the need to ensure that we have people-driven leaders, not corporate-funded leaders. We’re all talking about that across the state and we’re all going to do it in our own ways, representing our individual communities the best way we know how,” Benson told reporters after the convention wrapped up.
Before the main program Saturday, candidates made the rounds speaking to smaller breakout gatherings of Democrats.
Attorney General nominee Eli Savit was among the candidates hammering an affordability message. He said he plans to use his office to beef up consumer and worker protections, like against wage theft.
“That’s something that’s impacting the economic crisis that we’re going through because families have even less when their boss is skimming from their paycheck. We’re going to go after those bosses and we’re going to get money back in workers’ pockets,” Savit said.
Democrats regrouped Saturday as Republicans have spent their time since the primary trying to peel off moderate Democratic voters.
Republicans have attacked the Democratic ticket as too far to the left on economic policies and culture war matters like trans student athletes.
Karen GreenBay chairs the Mecosta County Democratic Party. She said her community wants candidates to address everyday issues.
“The main thing is affordability. It’s really hitting hard in rural Michigan for us. And so, we want to see and we want to know and we want to trust our candidates that they’re doing or will do what they say they’re going to do once they get into office,” GreenBay said.
Mail-in ballots for the November general election are scheduled to start going out in September.
