Hundreds of lifelong Jewish Democrats in Michigan have signed an open letter endorsing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, warning that Abdul El-Sayed's allies and politics threaten their community, and a former Democratic congressman dismissed their concerns as an AIPAC-driven minority.
The letter, posted at mijewsvote.com and signed by more than 400 Democratic Jewish Michiganders, carries names that any Michigan Democratic fundraiser would recognize. Rob Orley, a prominent Democratic donor and senior advisor at O2 Investments, has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns over the years, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Robert Gordon, the former president of Temple Israel, the state's largest Jewish congregation, added his name. So did Shayna Levine, the daughter of Temple Israel's leading rabbi; David Propis, cantor of Congregation Shaarey Zedek; Laurence Deitch, a former University of Michigan regent; and Hannan Lis, a Weight Watchers executive.
These are not Republican operatives. They describe themselves, in the letter's own words, as people who have been "fiercely supportive of Democratic candidates and principles." And they say they feel "threatened and alienated by the politics and allies embraced by Abdul El-Sayed."
Fox News Digital reported on the letter's central warning:
"If El-Sayed were to win the general election in this important swing state, we fear the far-left and anti-Jewish elements in the Democratic Party would become dominant, including in the imminent 2028 presidential race."
The signatories added: "We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan's senator."
That language carries weight in a battleground state where the Senate seat could determine control of the chamber. Michigan's Jewish community, concentrated in the metro Detroit area, has been a reliable source of Democratic votes, volunteers, and donor dollars for decades. A defection of this size, more than 400 signatories, many of them community leaders, is a concrete measure of how far the party's progressive wing has pushed traditional Democratic constituencies.
Daniel Cherrin, an attorney who signed the letter, told Fox News Digital that the issue runs deeper than any single candidate or policy disagreement. He framed it as a matter of physical safety.
"I am very concerned about the movement that is behind Abdul, and for the safety of my community, I don't feel safe in that environment with the people that are standing in support of him."
Cherrin said he has known Andy Levin for years and previously worked with El-Sayed in Detroit and Wayne County. He described El-Sayed as a "good" person. But the people and forces aligned behind the campaign are what trouble him.
"They don't understand the impact that their words and their actions is having on me and my children and my neighbors. And so, for that, I am very worried about should he be elected what that means for all those that are trying to advance his candidacy."
Former Rep. Andy Levin, a Jewish Democrat who endorsed El-Sayed in November 2025, waved off the letter's signatories. He told Fox News Digital that the opposition did not surprise him.
"It's not a surprise to me. The people I know associated with it are all long-time AIPAC insiders and supporters."
Levin went further, calling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee a fringe voice within the Jewish community. AIPAC, he claimed, "represents a distinctly minority position about Israel and Palestine within the Jewish community."
Cherrin pushed back on that characterization directly. He told Fox News Digital he has not attended an AIPAC event since college, more than 30 years ago.
"It's not about AIPAC for me. It is about how are we protecting the sanctity of the Jewish community in Michigan and frankly and across the country with all these other races that are out there."
Cherrin added a broader observation about what the letter represents for the Democratic Party.
"People within the Jewish community, who typically identify as Democrats, don't feel comfortable voting for the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and are looking for a place to channel their frustration. That should not be discounted."
Levin has his own history with AIPAC, and not a friendly one. He was first elected to Congress in 2018, replacing his retiring father, Sander Levin. In 2022, AIPAC spent more than $4 million in the primary race against him, helping Rep. Haley Stevens defeat him. That context colors his dismissal of the letter's signatories as "AIPAC insiders." Whether the label fits 400-plus people, many of whom, like Cherrin, say they have no meaningful AIPAC ties, is a question Levin did not address.
Levin framed his support for El-Sayed in sweeping terms, mixing democratic idealism with identity politics. He told Fox News Digital he is "overwhelmed" by support from Jewish voters who want El-Sayed to win.
"I am overwhelmed like literally every day except Shabbat, our sabbath on Saturday, with the incoming I get from Jewish people, young people, middle-aged people, older people, who are so mad about an effort like this and who want to do everything they can to make sure Abdul El-Sayed wins the election on November 3rd, that this U.S. Senate seat stays democratic, and that we do everything we can to save and expand our democracy."
He then made a more pointed argument, that the scrutiny of El-Sayed's associations reflects a double standard rooted in the candidate's Muslim faith and Arab American heritage.
"So I'm not accepting Hasan Piker, but look in the mirror, sister. When it's a guy named Abdul with a guy named Hasan, you're blowing up about it and covering it massively. When it was not an Arab American or a Muslim who campaigned with him or did whatever Kamala Harris did, literally no one asked her a single question about it."
Levin concluded by saying the election of a Muslim senator is overdue.
"And it's about d*** time that Muslims had a senator and there's a brilliant person running here in Michigan who we can elect to be the first one. Will he do exactly what a Jewish person would do or something? No, but he will be someone we could talk to and who will be a great representative for all of Michigan and for the Arab American and Muslim communities in particular."
The figure looming over the controversy is Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who served as a top surrogate for El-Sayed's campaign. Piker has called Orthodox Jews inbreds and said America deserved the September 11 attacks. He also spread what Levin himself described as "antisemitic falsehoods about the Oct. 7 attack", though Levin said he condemned those statements.
As recently as August 3, 2026, El-Sayed appeared with Piker at a Detroit event for content creators supporting his campaign. But over the past week, El-Sayed attempted to distance himself from the streamer. He said people focusing on his affiliation with Piker are "missing the boat" and told reporters last month he had "no plans" to continue campaigning with him.
Levin's argument, that the Democratic National Committee itself invited Piker to stream during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, giving then-Vice President Kamala Harris a chance to reach his audience, is an attempt to spread the blame. But it also underscores the problem: the Democratic Party's progressive flank has repeatedly embraced figures whose rhetoric alarms Jewish voters, then acted surprised when those voters walk.
Not every Jewish voice in Michigan opposes El-Sayed. Roslyn Schindler, a daughter of Holocaust survivors who has lived in the metro Detroit area for 50 years and taught Holocaust studies at Wayne State University, told Fox News Digital she supports him. She attends Congregation T'chiyah, a progressive Reform synagogue that touts its support for Black Lives Matter and transgender rights, the same congregation Levin attends.
Schindler rejected the idea that supporting El-Sayed makes her anti-Zionist.
"I am certainly not an anti-Zionist, as many Jews who don't support Abdul think we are, but I am a committed Jew. I'm a committed Democrat. I believe that the Democratic Party should be a large tent, so to speak, that includes all members of that party, no matter what their perspective."
But when asked about antisemitism within the party's coalition, she offered a candid acknowledgment that the problem exists, and that she cannot control it.
"As a Jew, I certainly don't want anyone to be anti-Semitic. I don't want anyone to be anti-Muslim. I don't want anyone to be anti-LGBTQ, and the list goes on. Is that realistic? Probably not. Do I want those people to be part of the Democratic Party? It's not really for me to want. It is what it is."
That answer, "It is what it is", captures the bind that Jewish Democrats who remain loyal to the party find themselves in. They acknowledge the antisemitism. They wish it away. And then they vote for the coalition that houses it.
Republican candidate Mike Rogers, who served in Congress for 15 years, issued a statement drawing a direct line between the letter and the broader climate.
"As antisemitism rises and Jewish families worry for their safety, it's critical that we have leaders who will confront hatred, not inflame it. That's where my opponent and I couldn't be more different."
Rogers added: "Abdul El-Sayed fans the flames of antisemitism. We're fighting to extinguish it."
El-Sayed's campaign responded with a statement from an unnamed spokesperson: "Abdul is grateful for the good conversations he's had with Jewish leaders across Michigan, and he'll continue to be actively engaged with communities to build the coalition that will defeat Rogers, restore Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, and put a much-needed check on Trump's reckless agenda."
The statement mentioned coalition-building and conversations. It did not address the letter's specific concerns about the movement behind El-Sayed, the role of Hasan Piker, or the antisemitic attack on Temple Israel earlier this year.
The open letter posted at mijewsvote.com is not a poll or a pundit's guess. It is 400-plus names, donors, synagogue leaders, educators, executives, a former university regent, attached to a public document that says, in plain language, they are crossing party lines. They are not switching parties. They are not embracing the full Republican platform. They are making a specific judgment: that this candidate, with these allies, in this moment, is a threat to their community.
Levin's response, to label them AIPAC stooges and pivot to the historic significance of a Muslim senator, tells those voters that their fears do not matter. Cherrin, who has known both Levin and El-Sayed personally, says he has not set foot at an AIPAC event in three decades. The AIPAC label is a way to avoid answering the complaint.
When more than 400 lifelong Democrats sign a letter saying they feel unsafe in their own party, the healthy response is to ask why. Dismissing them as pawns of a lobby group is the kind of institutional arrogance that turns a warning into a walkout.
