News: Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed expressed frustration with Mallory McMorrow during a private organizing call last week, complaining that his primary opponent “copies my homework, just poorly” on key issue positions.
The Michigan Democratic primary is currently a wide-open, three-way race that also includes establishment favorite Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). But El-Sayed and McMorrow have been sparring more directly in recent weeks as the two Senate hopefuls jockey to appeal to progressive voters.
“The other opponent waits until I take a position and then takes a halfway position, like two months later,” El-Sayed, referencing McMorrow, said on a Feb. 4 private call. “So some of us lead, and some of us follow, and I guess some of us get out the way.”
El-Sayed accused McMorrow of copying his policy proposal on regulating data centers.
“One of my opponents literally voted to give data centers tax breaks back in 2024,” El-Sayed said. “And now a month later after we posted our terms of engagement, waits till the coast is clear and then copies my homework, just poorly.”
El-Sayed also dinged McMorrow for her stance on ICE.
“I said ‘abolish ICE’ back in 2018,” El-Sayed said. “Now one of my opponents is going to ‘ICE out’ protests, but won’t actually talk about what we do. So we get our ICE out, but then we’re going to reform ICE — so I don’t understand what’s happening.”
During the call, El-Sayed criticized McMorrow for accepting corporate PAC money in past campaigns.
Addressing his supporters, El-Sayed encouraged them to discuss the “clear pattern” of McMorrow trying to co-opt his left-wing beliefs.
“The evidence is clear: Abdul leads, some follow,” El-Sayed spokesperson Roxie Richner said in a statement.
In a statement, McMorrow spokesperson Hannah Lindow touted McMorrow’s record in the state legislature of raising the minimum wage, passing universal pre-K and repealing anti-union laws.
“She doesn’t need to be lectured to by Abdul El-Sayed or anyone else about what to believe,” Lindow said. “Voters can decide for themselves whose record shows leadership.”
McMorrow’s campaign also pushed back on El-Sayed’s argument that McMorrow had copied El-Sayed’s data center plan, pointing out McMorrow first shared her plan in early January.
