Stevens, El-Sayed Ask Each Other In Final Debate: Who's Controlling You?

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/27/2026) (SOUTHFIELD) – In Democrats' final U.S. Senate debate before the Aug. 4 primary, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and Abdul El-Sayed accused each other of answering to outside forces. Stevens tried linking celebrity ambitions and progressive influencers to El-Sayed. He tagged her with benefiting from large corporations and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) dollars.

Stevens targeted El-Sayed's podcast series, "America Dissected," accusing it of promoting "junk healthcare cures" that President Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "would thumbs up."

In her opening statement in the FOX 2 Debate, she said that El-Sayed was "running for celebrity," and that this year's open U.S. Senate race "isn't about the D.C. or New York influencer crowd." She also touted the endorsement she received this past Friday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

El-Sayed and Stevens; Photo: Robin Buckson of the Detroit News

"My opponent is on these big podcasts. He's running a podcast himself. These folks are making fun of the way I sound, but yet I sound like the people who need help, who are talking to me about what they need," Stevens said.

Additionally, she attempted to paint El-Sayed as putting down female leaders in the state. She pointed to criticisms he had against Whitmer, who he ran against for governor in 2018, for being heavily backed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She pointed at his backers for challenging the relevance of former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow's endorsement of her, as well.

"Only he can account for saying that Whitmer's bought and paid for, or that no one cares about Debbie Stabenow, or that Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) isn't smart enough," Stevens said, mentioning McMorrow, who ran for the seat until suspending her campaign on July 5.

When asked about power reliability and rate costs amid hotter summers and more severe storms, El-Sayed targeted DTE Energy's political contributions Stevens has benefited from as a U.S. House candidate.

He said that DTE political action committee (PAC) donations allow them to "get away with things" like building hyperscale data centers in Michigan without going through traditional approval processes.

"This is going to increase the load on our grid by more than twice. Now, we just lost our power for five days in a row because of a mid-level storm. We need to do a lot better," El-Sayed said. "To me, it's about transparency in policymaking. People should not be able to take that money and then turn the other cheek and then allow for these approval processes — that aren't approval processes at all."

AIPAC was mentioned ten times during the nearly 58-minute-long debate.

The number of mentions was slightly more than the number of times El-Sayed noted Stevens was a no vote on a U.S. House Democratic amendment attempting to eliminate $3.3 billion in yearly military support to Israel.

"We are being robbed. The money that we should have to invest in our schools is being sent to foreign governments to destroy other public schools instead of investing in our own, and that is exactly what AIPAC wants you to do, and why they're spending so much money to get the congresswoman elected," El-Sayed said.

When asked what would be the first thing she'll try doing as a U.S. senator, Stevens pointed to standing up against Trump's "abuses of power" and continuing to push her efforts to prohibit elected officials from trading stocks. She added that she'll work on "day-one actions" to lower costs and invest in small businesses, especially those owned by minorities in Michigan.

"Lastly, we got to make sure that the jobs of the future are coming from the place that we all love to call home, which is why my manufacturing agenda on day one will also be in the hopper," Stevens said. "I've got all the bills ready to go."

El-Sayed said getting people healthcare is the passion of his life.

"We need and deserve guaranteed healthcare through Medicare for all," El-Sayed said. "Now, on Medicare for all, there is work that we're going to have to do. We're going to have to get a president elected who can do it in 2029. Now, in the process, though, I actually think that we could eliminate all the medical debt in this country."

He said the $225 billion in medical debt owed by Americans is equal to the gross domestic product of more than half of the country's states.

"On day one, I want to offer medical debt relief to everybody. I think we could get bipartisan support to do it, and I'd love to get that done," El-Sayed said. "And then let's make sure that we can get money out of politics, so the big pharmas and the big insurances of the world aren't in the way."

Furthermore, El-Sayed clapped back at attempts to describe him as anti-woman. A leaked conversation with donors via Zoom, which POLITICO obtained, featured El-Sayed saying "You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message" when asked if he'd back a Democratic primary challenge to Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman in 2028.

He claimed that despite repetitive attack ads on his character by pro-Israel groups, he is the father of two daughters that he's "raising to be stronger than any man."

"My wife is a doctor. My mother was the first tenured professor of engineering at her university. I was raised by strong women," El-Sayed said. "I really think it's important for my opponent to speak to why she thinks it's OK to spend $10 million of AIPAC money coming after my character."

In response, Stevens said, "Thank you for clarifying that you didn't call me an ogre."

In the audience was former state representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, the city of Detroit's ombudsman. When asked if she felt any comments the debate stage went too far, she said the average Detroiter and a number of African Americans can't name one or two things that U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Oakland County), the outgoing U.S. senator, has done for the Black community.

She said folks tuned in were trying to hear how the candidates would lower their DTE bill and help them put more gas in the tank.

"So the attacks that are going on … 'He did this, and she did that, and he did this,' is not really helpful to this campaign," Gay-Dagnogo said. "The personal attacks, to me, were problematic."