{"id":234923,"date":"2026-08-04T04:47:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T04:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/234923\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T04:47:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T04:47:23","slug":"aipac-gets-lots-of-attention-in-michigan-senate-primary-but-voters-say-its-not-their-top-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/234923\/","title":{"rendered":"AIPAC gets lots of attention in Michigan Senate primary, but voters say it\u2019s not their top issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAK PARK, Michigan (JTA) \u2013 Working as a morning producer for Detroit\u2019s Local 4 television station, Noelle Gray has had a front-row seat to the flood of political advertising in Michigan\u2019s Democratic Senate primary.<\/p>\n

Amid the barrage, one thing stood out to her: how much money the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC was pouring into the race between US Rep. Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate, and former county health official Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive and harsh Israel critic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt concerns me a little bit because it makes me a little leery of foreign interests being infiltrated into the state of Michigan,\u201d said Gray, 27, who on Sunday stopped by her polling place in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park to vote early. \u201cI want to support somebody who is for the state of Michigan. I love Michigan. Born and raised here my entire life, and it worries me on corporate and international interests. Are you really focused on Michiganders?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Gray said, spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee\u2019s affiliated super PAC did not drive her vote. She voted for El-Sayed because of her concerns about data centers and ICE, the immigration enforcement agency that has been at the front of a nationwide crackdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope putting someone in the position of our Senate will represent our interests, keep us safe, but also protect the people who are here,\u201d Gray said of her decision.<\/p>\n

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But the lobby has become nearly impossible to miss in the race. AIPAC\u2019s super PAC has spent over $30 million to support Stevens\u2019 campaign, toppling its previous record in a bid to prevent one of its most vocal Democratic critics, El-Sayed, from reaching the Senate.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed, who is currently leading Stevens by as much as 16 points<\/a> in recent polling, has made opposition to the group, and to Israel, a defining feature of his campaign, inveighing against AIPAC in the debates ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary and in his attack ads against Stevens. \u201cAIPAC is perfectly fine with either Congresswoman Stevens or Mike Rogers,\u201d El-Sayed wrote in a post on X<\/a> earlier this month, referring to the Republican Senate nominee. \u201cIf either of them win, Israel wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Rep. Haley Stevens, a candidate in the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan, speaks during a campaign event at Corine\u2019s Soul Food, Cakes & Catering, August 3, 2026, in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. (AP\/Paul Sancya)<\/p>\n

Polling in Michigan suggests widespread opposition to AIPAC among Democratic voters. A survey conducted earlier this month of 500 likely Michigan Democratic primary voters on behalf of Detroit News\/WDIV-TV<\/a> found that 49% have an unfavorable opinion of AIPAC, while 12% view AIPAC favorably, and 39% were neutral. An April poll conducted by Data for Progress for Zeteo and Drop Site News<\/a>, two outlets that prominently feature criticism of Israel, found that 64% of likely Democratic primary voters said they are less likely to support a Senate candidate who receives AIPAC donations.<\/p>\n

But Josh Pasek, a professor of communication and media and political science at the University of Michigan, said that he did not think the \u201cbulk of voters\u201d in the state were voting primarily based on issues concerning Israel and AIPAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people care a whole lot more about substantive issues,\u201d Pasek said. He added, however, that the issue was particularly important for Jewish and Muslim voters, both of which have large communities in Michigan. The state is home to more than 240,000 Muslims and roughly 129,000 Jews out of some 10 million total residents.<\/p>\n

For all the attention AIPAC has commanded in the race, a snapshot of voters participating in early voting Sunday suggested AIPAC\u2019s spending wasn\u2019t the foremost issue shaping their decisions. Even among voters who shared concerns about money in politics, AIPAC was often one of several sources of political spending they cited, alongside issues including affordability and immigration.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSupporters of US Rep. Haley Stevens rally outside the Detroit-area TV studio where she is participating in her final debate with Abdul El-Sayed before the Michigan U.S. Senate Democratic primary, Southfield, Michigan, July 27, 2026. (JTA)<\/p>\n

Gray was one of dozens of Michiganders who trickled into an early voting location in Oak Park, a diverse suburb with a sizable Orthodox Jewish population, on Sunday as campaign signs fluttered in the rain outside. For many of the non-Jewish voters who spoke with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, other issues outweighed AIPAC when deciding how to vote.<\/p>\n

Those included Nicole Haines, a 40-year-old resident of Berkeley, another Detroit suburb in Oakland County, and an El-Sayed voter. She said opposing super PAC spending ranked lower for her than priorities such as women\u2019s rights, affordability and checking US President Donald Trump\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Haines said she saw the heavy focus on Israel and AIPAC as a way for candidates to sidestep issues that might harm them in the general election.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bWhat I think every American cares about is: Can I figure out a way to pay my bills and pursue what makes me happy?,\u201d Haines said. \u201cAnd so I think [Israel and AIPAC] was an issue that allowed the candidates to keep some distance from talking about direct issues here and potentially, especially in that primary cycle, threatening their own success in the general by having an issue to hold up that almost acts as a foil.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Inez Thomas, an Oak Park resident, Israel and AIPAC barely registered as considerations at all. Thomas said she cast her ballot for Stevens because she \u201cis really working on Michigan\u2019s behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been following Israel,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI know there\u2019s a war and stuff going over there, but if they\u2019re worried about [Stevens], they need to worry about the current president because he\u2019s the one creating a lot of that. He\u2019s the one that [has] our military people over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tCampaign signs outside of an early voting site in Oak Park, Michigan, on August 2, 2026. (Grace Gilson)<\/p>\n

The gap between AIPAC\u2019s prominence in the campaign and its importance to some voters comes as El-Sayed has drawn criticism from some Jewish leaders for his focus on the group. He has also voiced opposition<\/a> to Israel\u2019s Jewish character and suggested that money is the only reason Democrats who \u201cbelieve in human rights\u201d support Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose candidates who are solely talking about AIPAC are failing to see that American voters are voting on a range of issues in this election, most of them have to do with affordability, with the defense of our democracy, with our security, safety and well-being,\u201d said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.<\/p>\n

Soifer also said that she believed the rhetoric carried a more serious risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an issue that could potentially even endanger our security by again fanning the flames of antisemitism,\u201d Soifer said. \u201cI really think that at best they\u2019re missing the boat on what voters want to hear about. At worst, they\u2019re repeating what has become a dangerous antisemitic trope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens has also criticized her opponent\u2019s focus on AIPAC, writing in a recent post on X, \u201cEveryone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed, left, and US Rep. Haley Stevens participate in a televised debate moderated by Roop Raj, July 27, 2026, in Southfield, Michigan. (Robin Buckson\/Detroit News via AP, Pool)<\/p>\n

Jessica \u201cDecky\u201d Alexander, the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus chair, said she shared some of Stevens\u2019 concerns when it came to El Sayed\u2019s focus on AIPAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he blaming corporations or AIPAC for housing prices and what? Because of gas prices? Because there\u2019s a war? Is everything now the Jews\u2019 fault?\u201d Alexander said. \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t think he thinks that, but I can see how that would be interpreted as such, and it makes me nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewish groups on the left have defended scrutiny of AIPAC, though some have cautioned candidates to be precise in how they criticize the group.<\/p>\n

Jamie Beran, the CEO of Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish group, said the scale of the group\u2019s spending and its \u201canti-progressive political agenda\u201d in Michigan warranted attention, but that it was important to use caution and avoid \u201cantisemitic terms\u201d when critiquing the group. Bend the Arc has held trainings with candidates, including El-Sayed, to help them stay away from problematic approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to be careful not to have a double standard for them,\u201d Beran said. \u201cBut I also think that there\u2019s a way that that accusation around it being a double standard or around it being antisemitic to call them out is just another way that they get protected from legitimate critique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli Williams-Szenes, Bend the Arc\u2019s director of advocacy and political affairs, said the group had had a \u201cproductive conversation with the El-Sayed team about best language practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the trainings, the group tells participants, \u201cDo not refer to the Israel lobby. Do not refer to Zionists. Don\u2019t talk about the Jews. Be specific,\u2019\u201d Williams-Szenes said. \u201cWhen people stray into the generalities is where it gets really dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFrom left foreground, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat-New York, Michigan Democratic US Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and US Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent-Vermont, join hands together following a campaign rally in Detroit, July 18, 2026. (Jose Juarez\/AP)<\/p>\n

Some voters in Oak Park shared El-Sayed\u2019s objections to outside spending.<\/p>\n

Sean Lathrop, 36, of Oak Park, said that he had been driven to vote for El-Sayed because he felt it was essential to \u201cget money out of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said that he was less concerned about AIPAC spending than he was about spending by DTE Energy, a Detroit-based energy company that has drawn outcry for raising energy prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see politicians be represented by the people, not represented by the corporations,\u201d Lathrop said. \u201cHonestly, DTE bothered me more than AIPAC because we know how big of a problem DTE is, and [Stevens] received $40,000 from DTE.\u201d (DTE\u2019s PAC has donated $35,000 to Stevens\u2019 congressional campaign committee over four election cycles, according to Politifact.)<\/p>\n

Seth Resler, 49, of Oak Park, said he voted for El-Sayed and shared his concerns about outside spending in the race.<\/p>\n

But he also saw the focus on AIPAC as a product of a primary in which candidates needed to emphasize the issues that separated them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a primary race, there\u2019s not a lot of difference between the positions of the candidates, so you have to take the issues that are different and magnify them,\u201d Resler said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what happened here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAK PARK, Michigan (JTA) \u2013 Working as a morning producer for Detroit\u2019s Local 4 television station, Noelle Gray…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[42118,22474,41216,36075,37,66190,8576],"class_list":["post-234923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-2026-us-midterm-elections","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-aipac-american-israel-public-affairs-committee","tag-haley-stevens","tag-israel","tag-jewish-democratic-council-of-america","tag-michigan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117035430589389724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}