It seemed to me that, while Mike Rogers delivered an underwhelming performance on last Thursday night’s debate stage, he probably succeeded in his effort to incept concerns in viewers’ minds about Abdul El-Sayed’s judgment and loyalties. The Jewish Insider reinforced that impression when it asked Michigan’s Jewish Democrats how they felt about the conduct of the Democratic Senate candidate.
“He’s not really made any accommodations whatsoever” to Michigan’s Jews, said prominent Democratic fundraiser David Kramer, “and the debate was just the latest example.” Kramer added that he’s hearing from his fellow Jewish Michiganders the general belief that El-Sayed is “absolutely showing who he is.” Michigan Democratic Party Central Committee member Joan Lowenstein agreed. Debate watchers “didn’t get anything new about what El-Sayed thinks, or what he was willing to do for Jewish safety,” she said, “not at all.” Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus secretary Zach Nessel (who is the son of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel), agonized over the choice before Michigan Democrats. “It was a sorry excuse not to stand up for our community three years after the Oct. 7 attack,” he said of El-Sayed’s refusal to honor the anniversary of the October 7 massacre. But then, perhaps the candidate’s silence was preferable. “I don’t think anything he would say would have been true to his values and probably would have been inflammatory,” Nessel added.
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