Representative Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat who has been feuding with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, her party’s nominee for Senate, appeared on Sunday with his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, dramatically escalating an intraparty battle on the eve of a pivotal election.
Ms. Stevens and Mr. Rogers attended a service at Perfecting Church in Detroit, a prominent Black church, Mr. Rogers’ campaign confirmed Sunday morning. Abby Ronson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Rogers’s campaign, posted an image of the two standing side-by-side at the service.
It was not immediately clear whether Ms. Stevens was defecting to support Mr. Rogers in the Senate race. She previously endorsed Dr. El-Sayed.
The appearance followed days of mounting tension between Dr. El-Sayed, a progressive and a forceful critic of Israel, and Ms. Stevens, a centrist and a supporter of Israel. Ms. Stevens had immediately threw her support to Dr. El-Sayed after he defeated her by less than a percentage point in a bitter Senate primary in August.
But since then, their relationship has grown ever more contentious.
Tensions mounted last week with Ms. Stevens demanding that Dr. El-Sayed denounce an ad from an outside group that she has argued amounts to “fear-mongering about Israel.” But they appeared to ease on Thursday, when Ms. Stevens said that she planned to campaign with Dr. El-Sayed this weekend.
Those plans, however, were upended when she issued a statement Friday morning demanding an apology for comments Dr. El-Sayed had made criticizing Israel.
Dr. El-Sayed said Saturday that he did not want Ms. Stevens to join him at a party unity event in Detroit on Sunday.
“I don’t want any distractions,” Dr. El-Sayed told reporters Saturday. He added, “It seems as though other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.”
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