Stevens Conditions a Unity Event on El-Sayed Condemning the Rebellion PAC Ad; His Statement Answers with the Primary; the Campaign Then Asks Her to Stay Away

Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, made a joint Sunday appearance with him conditional on his condemning the Rebellion PAC grocery ad; El-Sayed’s campaign answered with a statement about the primary rather than the ad, and the campaign then asked her to stay away from its events. The ad is described in 2026-10-26–rebellion-pac-uygur-grocery-ad-blames-israel-for-prices-el-sayed-campaign-says-not-affiliated-uygur-is-hasan-pikers-uncle.

Stevens’s statement

Stevens’s statement, issued on a Friday, said: “A disclaimer is not a condemnation and everyone in my community knows the difference.” She wrote that she had learned from Democratic Party leaders and emissaries, as reported in the news media, that El-Sayed “is now, for the first time in this campaign, formally condemning that ad for what it is.” She also said, “I therefore expect him to apologize for those statements as well,” meaning El-Sayed’s own remarks on Israel and costs. Her X post the same day, dated October 30, 2026, said the nominee “disavows the Rebellion PAC ad” and that she had learned this from reports.

El-Sayed’s statement

El-Sayed responded in a statement Friday night that Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” The statement as quoted by CNN, NBC and Jewish Insider does not name the ad. The outlets characterise that differently: Jewish Insider says he “rejected an appeal” to condemn the ad; CNN says he is “brushing off” the call; Free Beacon says he “refused to condemn” it and describes the ad as produced on his behalf, which the campaign’s “not affiliated” statements dispute. NBC and CNN carry the earlier campaign position as “distanced itself.”

The campaign asks her to stay away

CNN reports, from a person familiar with the matter, that the campaign has asked Stevens to skip all campaign events in the race’s closing days, and NBC reports she is being asked not to attend because the campaign is concerned about distractions around her. NBC says an advisory sent Saturday for the Sunday event did not list Stevens as a participant. CNN says Politico first reported it. Stevens told The New York Times on Friday that she still planned to vote for El-Sayed. Rogers said Stevens “was absolutely right” to call on El-Sayed to denounce the ad.

The separate Piker episode

The same day CNN reports El-Sayed condemned remarks by Hasan Piker comparing canvassing in West Bloomfield to going to a “Klan KKK neighborhood.” That is CNN’s word for a response to Piker’s own remarks, and it is a different object from the Rebellion PAC ad, which no source read attributes to Piker.

Terms

Reporting on one sequence uses several words: Stevens and JTA say “disavows” or “disavowed”; NBC and Jewish Insider say “distanced”; Stevens says El-Sayed’s campaign owed a “condemnation,” and that a disclaimer is not one; Free Beacon says he “refused.” This entry uses each as its source did and does not treat them as interchangeable.

Open

• Whether the Sunday event took place with or without Stevens, and whether El-Sayed addressed the ad on the record afterwards.
• NBC says Dingell helped broker the event; Michigan Advance reports a dispute over who took part in the talks.