Nancy Pelosi just torpedoed her own Senate nominee days before Michigan votes.
Now his primary rival's fiancé is on TMZ threatening to pull her endorsement.
He needs Democrats to rally around him and instead they are walking away.
Pelosi Called El-Sayed Wrong on Antisemitism Then Immediately Backed Him Anyway
Donny Deutsch – a Jewish MSNBC contributor – described Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's Israel views on his On Brand podcast as "concerning" and asked Pelosi to respond.
Pelosi went further.
"No, it's more than concerning," she said. "It's wrong. It's wrong. And it isn't a reflection of the Democrats in the Congress of the United States. This new person in Michigan, we'll see if he gets elected to the Congress."
Her office reversed course the same day.
"Speaker Emerita Pelosi urges everyone in Michigan and across America to support Abdul El-Sayed and help elect him to the United States Senate."
The same woman who told the country his Israel views are wrong is now asking Michigan to hand him a Senate seat.
When even Nancy Pelosi can't defend her own nominee without immediately issuing a cleanup statement, something has gone catastrophically wrong inside that party.
Haley Stevens Fiancé Warns She May Pull Her Michigan Senate Endorsement
Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed El-Sayed after he beat her in the August Democrat primary and has not campaigned alongside him once.
When CNN's Dana Bash pressed her – "You're still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed?" – Stevens answered: "Look, I'm on the Democratic ticket."
That's not a yes – and now it may become an outright no.
Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish – a Jewish lifelong Democrat who already broke with El-Sayed and endorsed Republican Mike Rogers – went on TMZ Live with one message.
"I don't think she's going to be supporting Abdul El-Sayed very much longer," Turkish said.
Turkish also told TMZ what he thinks is driving the implosion. "If this ends this way, it's gonna be because Abdul El-Sayed picked Hasan Piker's uncle over party unity."
Piker’s uncle, YouTube streamer Cenk Uygur, released an ad widely criticized by both parties for being anti-semitic.
El-Sayed has a major rally at a Detroit church on Sunday – Rep. Jim Clyburn is scheduled to appear alongside him, and he needs Stevens there to show the party can get behind its own nominee.
Turkish was blunt: if El-Sayed doesn't disavow the antisemitic ads before then, Stevens won't show.
"Just condemn the ads, Abdul," Turkish told TMZ. "That's it."
El-Sayed has not condemned the ads – his campaign called them "not affiliated" with his operation, which is not the same thing as calling them wrong, and left it there while his own allies publicly demand he do more.
Rep. Dan Goldman of New York and Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois – both Democrats – had already gone public demanding El-Sayed condemn the ads by name. Neither got an answer.
Michigan Senate Majority Is at Stake and Democrats Are in Full Collapse
Democrats need Michigan to flip the Senate – Republicans hold 53 seats and Democrats need four to take control.
Michigan is one of only two Democrat-held seats in a state Trump carried in 2024 – and instead of closing voters, El-Sayed is spending the final stretch managing Pelosi's rebuke, watching Stevens' fiancé go on TMZ to issue public ultimatums, and still refusing to condemn ads his own party's sitting congressmen have called outright antisemitic.
Recent polling had El-Sayed leading his GOP rival Mike Rogers by as many as seven points – a margin he is now spending his final days quietly burning through.
Mike Rogers doesn't have to lift a finger while Democrats show exactly how to throw away a winnable race.
The party chose this.
Michigan Democrats watched El-Sayed call Israel "just as evil" as Hamas, watched him campaign alongside a man who said America deserved 9/11, and watched his allied super PAC put out an ad blaming your grocery bill on Jews – and they gave him the nomination anyway.
Pelosi is asking voters to elect the man she just called wrong, and his primary rival's own fiancé is threatening to walk.
Sunday's rally either becomes the moment El-Sayed finally says what two sentences would fix – or it becomes the image that defines this race: a half-empty Detroit church, Jim Clyburn standing alone, and a Senate seat slipping away because one man couldn't bring himself to call antisemitism wrong.
Pelosi already said it.
El-Sayed still won't.
Sources:
- Kyle Becker, "'It's Wrong': Nancy Pelosi Stuns Democrats, Throws Down on El-Sayed Ahead of Michigan Election," RedState, October 30, 2026.
- "Haley Stevens Will Abandon Abdul El-Sayed If He Doesn't Disavow Controversial Ads, Fiancé Warns," TMZ, October 30, 2026.
- "Who Is Jason Turkish? Haley Stevens' Fiancé Breaks with Dems to Back Rogers," Detroit News, October 28, 2026.
- "Former Rival Dodges Full-Throated El-Sayed Endorsement After Bitter Senate Primary," Fox News, October 27, 2026.
- "Haley Stevens Won't Say Whether She Regrets Endorsing Abdul El-Sayed," Townhall, October 28, 2026.
- "NRSC Condemns El-Sayed Over Antisemitic Extremism," National Republican Senatorial Committee, 2026.