WASHINGTON — South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn is heading to Michigan this weekend to rally support for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, Clyburn adviser Antjuan Seawright confirmed to Semafor, as Democrats race to project party unity in the final stretch before Election Day.
Clyburn had previously backed Rep. Haley Stevens in the heated Democratic primary, campaigning alongside her during the closing days of that contest before El-Sayed emerged victorious. The South Carolina lawmaker is stepping in as Michigan Democrats seek to mobilize Black voters and counter efforts by Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers to make inroads with traditionally Democratic constituencies, Semafor reported.
Household Divided Over Middle East Stance
The push for party alignment comes as the race is shaken by defections from figures closely associated with Stevens. Her fiancé, attorney and registered Democrat Jason Turkish, announced he will vote for Rogers rather than El-Sayed, Fox News reported.
Turkish appeared Wednesday night at a campaign event for Rogers sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan. Turkish told reporters that El-Sayed’s foreign policy positions and rhetoric concerning Israel made his community “less safe,” according to video published by The Detroit News.
“I waited, and I watched and I listened for Abdul to moderate – but he didn’t moderate, he escalated,” Turkish said, criticizing El-Sayed’s repeated descriptions of the conflict in Gaza as a “genocide” and his associations with online streamer Hasan Piker. Turkish described his choice to back Rogers as “putting country before party,” Fox News reported.
Stevens, however, reaffirmed her support for El-Sayed despite her household’s disagreement. “Like a lot of households across America, we’re a house divided,” Stevens told CNN. “I still very much want our Democratic nominee, his name is Abdul, to win this race,” she added, emphasizing that “there’s so much on the line.”
Defections Mount in Critical Battleground
Turkish is not the only member of Stevens’ campaign network to break ranks in the closing days of the race. Her former campaign chair, attorney David Kramer, announced Tuesday that he also intends to cast his ballot for Rogers, according to Fox News.
Although Stevens formally endorsed El-Sayed following the primary, she had not campaigned or appeared publicly alongside him since an initial unity breakfast shortly after the vote, Fox News reported.
During Wednesday’s event in Birmingham, Rogers sharply criticized El-Sayed’s foreign policy stances, though he did not mention Turkish’s endorsement in his prepared remarks. “This is not someone we can let into the United States Senate,” Rogers said, according to Fox News. “If you don’t know Iran is our enemy and you can’t condemn a Hezbollah-inspired attack, you have no business being in the United States Senate.”
Democrats Push to Mobilize Voters
El-Sayed has faced ongoing criticism over his comments on the war in Gaza, which he has termed a “genocide,” while Israel has maintained that its military campaign targets Hamas fighters who use civilians as human shields. Turkish contended that such rhetoric fuels hostility and antisemitism, Fox News reported.
To counter internal divisions and shore up the party’s base, national Democrats are leaning on experienced party figures. Prior to his planned weekend events in Michigan, Clyburn campaigned in Mississippi on Thursday and is scheduled to visit Minnesota on Friday, according to Seawright. Whether the late surrogate push will be sufficient to heal internal Democratic fractures and keep the seat in party hands remains to be seen when voters cast their ballots.
