JTA — In the first 90 seconds of his victory speech in Detroit Wednesday, Abdul El-Sayed both lambasted the influence of AIPAC and appealed to his rival Haley Stevens, who had benefited from the pro-Israel lobby’s massive resources, to campaign with him.

The jarring and almost immediate transition in the freshly elected Michigan Senate nominee’s remarks illustrates the daunting bridge-building that Democrats face between the party’s pro- and anti-Israel wings ahead of a midterm election the party sees as crucial to wresting control of the Senate from the GOP.

Later, El-Sayed devoted a chunk of his speech to ensuring the safety of Michigan’s Jews, still rattled by his equivocal reaction to an attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue earlier this year.

At the outset of his speech, the newly minted nominee lauded Mallory McMorrow, another contender for the Democratic nomination who dropped out early, and who had introduced him Wednesday, stating, “You took on the power of AIPAC.” He continued, “You were willing to speak truth to a level of power that sometimes is unbeatable.” Like El-Sayed, McMorrow attacked Stevens for accepting the backing of funders affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Three sentences later, El-Sayed appealed to Stevens, who was backed by upwards of $30 million in pro-Israel money, to join him in defeating Mike Rogers, a former congressman who is the Republican nominee to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

“Whatever differences that we might have had in the primary,” he told his “colleague and friend” Stevens, “they pale in comparison to what unifies us – a recognition that so long as we want to keep our democracy, that democracy better be working for people, and that all of us have to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the inside of the US Senate.”

Stevens lost by less than 1 percentage point, a stunning rebuke to multiple pollsters who said she would lose by double digits. The more than $60 million spent on the race on her behalf helps make it the most expensive in Senate primary history.

Despite the close margin,........

© The Times of Israel