Progressive rabbis and Jewish Democrats in Michigan asked Kamala Harris to press Democratic Senate nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Jewish issues and on Israel’s right to exist, as the former U.S. vice president campaigned with the former Detroit health director on Tuesday.
In a letter to Harris, the leaders said that El-Sayed hadn’t answered their request to affirm five principles about Jewish safety and political participation. They accused him of invoking antisemitic tropes.
“Jewish safety, including for Zionists, is nonnegotiable,” they wrote. “Our vote is our power, and it is earned, not owed.”
The signers included Rabbi Aaron Starr, president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, and Democratic fundraiser David Kramer, who said they turned to the former vice president for help because of her record on Jew-hatred and Israel.
El-Sayed campaigned with Harris, despite supporting Michigan’s “uncommitted” movement during the 2024 Democratic primary, which urged voters to select “uncommitted” instead of U.S. President Joe Biden in protest, it said, of the administration’s support for Israel.
The appeal came as Jews and Democrats in the state said that they would vote for Mike Rogers, a Republican and former congressman. In a recent Emerson College poll of likely voters, taken Sept. 14 to 16, El-Sayed was leading with 48%, with Rogers close behind at 46%.
