Key facts
- Kamala Harris campaigned with Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit on Tuesday.
- Harris's visit is seen as the opening stop of a midterm campaign tour.
- El-Sayed previously accepted Harris's endorsement after winning his primary.
- Critics have questioned El-Sayed's alliance with Harris due to her stance on US military aid to Israel.
- Polling in August 2025 indicated a majority of Democratic voters believed Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
- Aipac-linked groups reportedly spent over $60 million to oppose El-Sayed in his primary.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris joined Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed on the campaign trail in Detroit on Tuesday, a move that has drawn criticism from some pro-Palestine advocates who view it as an attempt to rehabilitate Harris's image.
Harris's visit marks the reported opening stop of a midterm campaign tour as she reportedly weighs a third presidential run. Under the Democrats' new nominating calendar, Michigan is scheduled to vote among the first six states in the 2028 presidential primary. Harris, who lost both Michigan and the presidency in 2024, is scheduled to campaign in Georgia and Nevada in the coming weeks. She told the Detroit crowd that "28 won't matter if we don't get through 26".
The partnership between El-Sayed and Harris was anticipated by some, given El-Sayed's prior acceptance of Harris's endorsement on X after winning his primary. This occurred in the same week a mass funeral was held in Gaza for 112 members of two families killed in 2023 by bombs provided by the Biden-Harris administration.
Critics, including Palestinian-American journalist Laila al-Arian, questioned how El-Sayed could "run against a genocide and then embrace one of the people who helped carry it out." Journalist Abubaker Abed described El-Sayed's statements as "abysmal and disgraceful," calling him "someone who chases power and self-interest."
El-Sayed has previously criticized Israel, labeling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal and demanding an end to unconditional US military aid. However, since his primary win, he has made concessions, including not mentioning Aipac at a state party convention and dismissing conversations about Twitch streamer Hasan Piker as "not a serious conversation." He has also promised Jewish Democrats that Michigan can "disagree agreeably on some of those issues having to do with what we do 6,000 miles away."
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel endorsed El-Sayed, stating, "There is no choice." Ahead of the Harris visit, El-Sayed told reporters that his disagreements with Harris over Gaza are "clear," but that working together where they agree is "what a mature politics looks like."