Several Jewish Michigan Democrats admitted Tuesday that they or people they know will be backing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in the upcoming election if Abdul El-Sayed becomes the Democratic nominee.
Ahead of the upcoming primary election on Aug. 4, Jewish donors spoke with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) about the possibility of El-Sayed, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel, becoming the party’s nominee for the Michigan Senate seat. JTA reported that several prominent Jewish fundraisers have already begun to see Rogers as a “hedge” and are planning to raise funds for him against El-Sayed.
“There are leaders in our Jewish community who are longtime, lifelong Democrats and Democratic fundraisers, who are very concerned with where their party’s going,” Jewish Federations of North America national chair of government relations Dennis Bernard said. “And if this is the case, they’ve made it clear, both financially and with their vote, that they would support Mike Rogers in the event El-Sayed wins the primary.”
MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT ACCUSES ABDUL EL-SAYED OF ‘DEEPLY SEXIST ATTACKS’ ON FEMALE POLITICAL RIVALS
Retired commercial mortgage banker Neil Gorosh described feeling “rudderless” as a Democrat, revealing that while he would not raise funds for Rogers, he would vote for the Republican over El-Sayed.
“If it came down to Mike Rogers and El-Sayed, I will vote for Mike Rogers,” Gorosh said. “I wouldn’t write a check, but I would vote for him, and I would tell my like-minded friends to do the same, and the reasons why.”
Other Jewish Democrats told JTA they were more focused on electing El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, based on her past support of Israel’s right to exist as a nation.
“Anyone who cares about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, Democrat or Republican, needs to vote for Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary,” an anonymous Jewish leader said.
Shimon Levy, an Israeli-American entrepreneur from Detroit, was more explicit in his distrust of El-Sayed, remarking “f— that” at concerns over Republicans retaining control of the Senate.
“El-Sayed has done nothing but put Jews at risk and in danger, and through his words has been so poisonous and has ostracized and villainized, single-handedly, the Jews of Southeast Michigan,” Levy said.
He added, “If today, as a Jew, you’re still like, ‘Democratic all the way, Democratic down the ticket,’ you need to rethink your survivalist instinct.”
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Jewish voters have expressed concerns that El-Sayed has been pushing antisemitism throughout his campaign based on his controversial statements and allies. He previously defended campaigning with far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once claimed that the terrorist organization Hamas was “a thousand times better” than Israel.
El-Sayed has also avoided answering whether he believes Israel has the right to exist and has argued that Israel is “just as evil” as Hamas.
“Yes, killing tens of thousands of people makes you pretty damn evil,” El-Sayed said to CNN in April. “It’s not how evil is this one versus that one — Hamas: Evil, Israeli government: Evil. We can say both.”
