‘Despicable betrayal’ reopens a Democratic Party wound that won’t heal

Washington: US congresswoman Haley Stevens’ decision to endorse Republican Mike Rogers in the state of Michigan rips open a wound in the Democratic Party that it had nearly patched over until election day.

Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel, lost the Democratic primary for a US Senate seat to Abdul El-Sayed, and pledged to unify the party after a bruising campaign that exposed deep rifts over the Israel/Palestine issue.

She lost to El-Sayed despite tens of millions of dollars in funding from the Israel lobby, money that turned out to be a curse rather than a gift. The best thing to do would be to humbly accept defeat and go home.

Now, on the eve of the midterms, in a seat Democrats really must win if they are to take control of the Senate, Stevens has endorsed US President Donald Trump’s candidate after appearing with him at church on Sunday morning.

“Who we are as Michiganders is not hate, and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now,” she said in a video filmed in a car.

The stunning development caps a series of events that snowballed after Stevens condemned a TV advertisement by a group supporting El-Sayed that linked grocery costs to US military aid for Israel.

In the commercial, a wife tells her husband they can’t afford to buy eggs because the money has to be set aside for “killing Palestinians”. It was released by a political action committee, not the El-Sayed campaign.

El-Sayed said he didn’t agree with the ad’s contents. It is far from the first time in the campaign he has been asked to distance himself from the actions or rhetoric of others, a phenomenon of which he is clearly tiring.

Stevens had been due to campaign with El-Sayed in these final days, but he rescinded the offer. She then co-ordinated the appearance with Rogers instead.

At a news conference in Detroit, protesters heckled Stevens as a “traitor”, and she was quickly ushered away. Democrats in Congress said much the same.

“This is a despicable betrayal,” said Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, who is Jewish. The party was united behind El-Sayed, he added.

Stevens was also expelled from the Democratic Party. “Congresswoman Stevens is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future,” party chair Curtis Hertel Jr said.

The stakes in Michigan are incredibly high. Democrats already hold the seat (the incumbent senator is retiring) and must retain it, plus win four more, to control the Senate. Pollsters generally consider the race a toss-up, though some polls have given El-Sayed the lead.

More broadly, what’s happening in Michigan is a test for the Democratic Party. El-Sayed should win: Michigan hasn’t sent a Republican to the US Senate since 1994, and momentum is with the Democrats. The fact Rogers is competitive suggests voters in this “purple” state have reservations about El-Sayed’s left-wing agenda.

A Rogers win would set back the progressive cause within the Democrats. It would be used as a cudgel to say: progressive candidates can’t win outside big blue cities such as New York.

On the other hand, an El-Sayed win would show the opposite is true. And it would underline how toxic support for Israel and the Israel lobby have become, not just in the Democratic base but in the broader electorate.

Stevens seems genuine in her convictions about Israel: she once said the country “comes to me in my dreams”. But she has oscillated over El-Sayed since her loss, initially getting behind him before casting doubt from the sidelines.

Perhaps she felt she could no longer abide the anti-Zionist messaging that has been such a feature of this campaign. But it looks more like a spontaneous dummy spit from a bruised ego than a principled act. Stevens’ staff didn’t know it was coming; many of them quit instantly.

To endorse Rogers shows that for Stevens, this issue trumps all. Trump’s Republicans have vastly different policies on education, healthcare, women’s rights – you name it – from the Democrats. Asked about this on Sunday, Stevens said: “Nothing is perfect.”

Important though the Israel/Palestine issue is, voters in Michigan must wonder how it came to be so weighty that someone could overlook just about everything else, and blow up their political future, in its cause.

Stevens’ decision to endorse Rogers also tacitly endorses the rhetoric he and his party have been using to tar El-Sayed, which has risen to pure Islamophobia. El-Sayed is the first Muslim to win the Democratic nomination for the US Senate and would be the first Muslim to enter the US Senate if he wins.

Trump regularly calls him a jihadist, and said he would need to go through a metal detector every time he entered the Senate.

The Democrats have backed El-Sayed strongly, and Stevens has been dispensed with. El-Sayed has handled the matter with dignity, trying to put the focus back on kitchen-table matters. But that doesn’t mean it’s settled.

A Rogers win would not suddenly alter the sentiment against Israel that now dominates the Democratic base and is growing among Republicans, too – especially the young.

The party’s mainstream elite must still grapple with this reality, and what it means for policy. That wound was exposed in the Michigan primary and bandaged up for the campaign. Now it’s back in the open again.

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