Hundreds of Jewish Democrats in Michigan have signed a letter endorsing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, saying they feel "threatened and alienated" by Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a defection that could reshape the battleground state's Senate race.
The letter, hosted at mijewsvote.com and signed by more than 400 self-described Democratic Jewish Michiganders, amounts to a rare public break with party loyalty in a state both parties need. Among the signatories: Rob Orley, a prominent Democratic donor and senior advisor at O2 Investments who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Robert Gordon, former president of Temple Israel, Michigan's largest Jewish congregation, also signed, along with Shayna Levine, daughter of Temple Israel's leading rabbi, Laurence Deitch, a former University of Michigan regent, Hannan Lis, a Weight Watchers executive, and David Propis, cantor of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
These are not fringe activists. They are donors, synagogue leaders, and civic figures who built careers inside the Democratic coalition. And they are walking away from it, at least for this race.
The letter's language is blunt. The signatories wrote that they have been "fiercely supportive of Democratic candidates and principles," but warned that an El-Sayed victory would hand control of the party to elements hostile to Jewish Americans, not just in Michigan, but nationally.
"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. We cannot allow him to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan's senator."
That framing puts the stakes beyond a single Senate seat. The signatories are arguing that El-Sayed's candidacy is a test case, that if a progressive candidate with ties to figures who have made derogatory remarks about Jews can win in Michigan, it will become the template for the party's future. The concern echoes warnings from veteran Democrats like Donna Brazile that the party risks being defined by its most radical voices if mainstream members stay silent.
Attorney Daniel Cherrin, another signatory who previously worked with El-Sayed in Detroit and Wayne County, told Fox News Digital that his decision had nothing to do with lobbying organizations and everything to do with 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 not attended an AIPAC event since college, more than 30 years ago. He called El-Sayed a "good" person but said the movement around the candidate is the problem.
"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."
He added a point that Democratic strategists should find difficult to dismiss: "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."
Much of the tension traces back to El-Sayed's association with Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer described as a top surrogate for the campaign. Piker has called Orthodox Jews inbreds and said America deserved the September 11 attacks. He also made antisemitic falsehoods about the October 7 attack on Israel.
El-Sayed said last month he had "no plans" to continue campaigning with Piker and has spent the past week trying to distance himself from the streamer. But a photo caption in the Fox News Digital report places El-Sayed poolside with Piker on August 3, 2026, at a party for content creators supporting his campaign in Detroit, one day after El-Sayed spoke to supporters at a separate campaign event in the same city.
El-Sayed suggested that people focusing on his affiliation with Piker are "missing the boat." His campaign spokesperson offered a statement that avoided Piker's name entirely: "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 gap between "no plans to continue campaigning" with Piker and appearing with him poolside at a campaign-adjacent event a day later is the kind of contradiction that erodes trust. Voters can read a calendar.
Former Rep. Andy Levin, a Jewish Democrat who endorsed El-Sayed in November 2025, waved off the letter. He told Fox News Digital that the signatories are "all long-time AIPAC insiders and supporters" and that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee "represents a distinctly minority position about Israel and Palestine within the Jewish community."
Levin, who was first elected to Congress in 2018 to replace his retiring father Sander Levin, has his own history with AIPAC. The group spent more than $4 million against him in his 2022 Democratic primary, which he lost to Rep. Haley Stevens. That context does not invalidate his argument, but it does explain the personal edge behind it. The broader Democratic Party has seen similar internal fault lines surface in recent votes on Capitol Hill.
Levin condemned Piker's antisemitic falsehoods about the October 7 attack but pivoted to a broader argument about representation. He told Fox News Digital that electing 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."
Levin also accused the media of a double standard, arguing that Piker's association with El-Sayed draws outsized scrutiny because both men are of Muslim and Arab heritage. He pointed to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where the DNC invited Piker to stream, an arrangement that gave then-Vice President Kamala Harris access to Piker's audience without comparable pushback.
"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."
Cherrin rejected Levin's characterization directly. He told Fox News Digital that the letter is about "protecting the sanctity of the Jewish community in Michigan and frankly and across the country with all these other races that are out there." He has known Levin for years and said he has "tremendous respect" for the former congressman, but the AIPAC framing does not fit him, and he said so plainly.
The dismissal of 400 Democratic voters as pawns of a single lobbying group is a familiar move. It is also a risky one. When rank-and-file party members publicly cross the aisle and the response is to question their motives rather than address their concerns, the party is telling those voters they do not matter. The same dynamic has played out in other contexts, Sen. John Fetterman's break with progressive orthodoxy drew similar attempts to explain away dissent rather than engage with it.
Republican candidate Mike Rogers, who served in Congress for 15 years, issued a statement drawing a sharp line between himself and El-Sayed on the question of antisemitism.
"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." He expressed appreciation for growing support from Jewish voters, "especially those crossing party lines to back his bid."
Temple Israel, where signatory Robert Gordon served as president, was the site of an antisemitic attack in March. The letter's signatories are not speaking in abstractions. They live in communities where the threat has already arrived at the front door of their synagogues.
Roslyn Schindler, a daughter of Holocaust survivors who has lived in metro Detroit for 50 years and taught Holocaust studies at Wayne State University, supported El-Sayed before his primary victory. She attends Congregation T'chiyah, a progressive Reform synagogue that touts its support for Black Lives Matter and transgender rights, alongside Andy Levin.
Schindler told Fox News Digital she is "certainly not an anti-Zionist" but considers herself a committed Democrat who believes the party should be a "large tent."
"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 captures the bind many Jewish Democrats face. Schindler is not endorsing antisemitism, but she is not willing to draw a hard line against candidates who attract it, either. She said she believes "there is enough traction within the Jewish community at large to counter anti-Semitism." Whether that faith is justified when 400 of her fellow Jewish Democrats are publicly defecting is an open question. The broader pattern of Democratic voters breaking with their party over Israel-related concerns suggests the answer may not be the one she hopes for.
The November 3 general election will settle the Michigan Senate race. But the letter from these 400 Democrats has already settled something else: the progressive wing's tolerance for figures like Hasan Piker has a cost, and the people paying it are done being quiet about it.
When lifelong Democrats cross the aisle to endorse a Republican, and do it with their names attached, the party has a problem that no amount of coalition-talk can paper over.