Stevens demanded that El-Sayed explicitly condemn the Rebellion PAC video as a condition for appearing with him at a Democratic unity event. She also called for an apology over his previous rhetoric concerning Israel and asked his campaign to take down a clip featuring Tucker Carlson.
El-Sayed did not directly denounce the advertisement. Instead, he accused Stevens of trying to “relitigate a primary that ended three months ago” and urged Democrats to focus on defeating Rogers. He also cited his primary victory despite tens of millions of dollars in corporate and AIPAC-backed spending against him.
Plans for the former rivals to appear together subsequently collapsed. El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens by Saturday not to attend its remaining events, CBS News reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Both had been scheduled to appear Sunday with Rep. Jim Clyburn at a Detroit church.
Rebellion PAC, founded by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, produced the advertisement at the center of the controversy. Although the video endorsed El-Sayed, his campaign said it was not affiliated with the ad.
The video depicts a couple grocery shopping and links rising food prices to U.S. military assistance for Israel. Jewish community leaders and fellow Democrats widely denounced the advertisement, saying the connection between domestic inflation and American support for Israel evoked harmful anti-Semitic tropes involving Jewish financial influence.
As she challenged El-Sayed over the video, Stevens described Uygur, co-founder of The Young Turks, as “Hasan Piker’s uncle.”
The disagreement has reopened tensions between the Democrats three months after El-Sayed defeated Stevens in the primary and disrupted efforts to demonstrate party unity shortly before Tuesday’s vote.
