Dingell on Antisemitism Concerns with El-Sayed: MI Campaign Has Been 'Hateful'

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) responded to a question on whether there are legitimate concerns among Jewish voters about Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, like his association with Hasan Piker and Tucker Carlson, that are perhaps being expressed by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), by saying that the campaign has been “hateful” and “The hate is real. The fear of violence in community is real. And we’ve got to stand up to hate wherever and whenever we see it, and that’s one of my lessons coming out of this campaign, we’ve got to find a way to do it.”

Host Jake Tapper asked, “[P]utting aside Rep. Stevens, and what she has done this weekend, Van Jones was just here and said that she didn’t explain it well, but that she does represent some legitimate concerns that some voters, particularly Jewish voters in Michigan, have about Abdul El-Sayed, including his associations, endorsements involving Hasan Piker, putting Tucker Carlson in an ad, and on and on, I don’t have to go through the list, you know it. Do you think it’s fair to say that, again, removing Haley Stevens from it, some of the concerns she was perhaps struggling to express are real ones from real Democrats?”

Dingell answered, “So, Jake, I want to say, the campaign season in Michigan has, without fail, been the most disgusting, vile, hateful one I have ever seen. And I don’t — that ad, by the way, was never — it was on the Internet. We didn’t see it on TV. I’ve seen other horrible, horrific ads that — I have friends in the Jewish community, I have a significant community in my district in Ann Arbor. Look, the rise of antisemitism is real, because of this hate. But there were also very hateful ads targeted at the Arab American community and the Muslim community. And so, people are — look, I’ve had meetings with both communities. I was in — had lunch with a group of Arab American leaders on Saturday. They clearly want to see Abdul win, but they’re scared about what’s going to happen. They are afraid of violence if he wins tomorrow. Look, we’ve got a — I have had some discussions with some interfaith leaders, actually, another one of my Republican colleagues today from Michigan, who called me concerned about some of the hate too. And we agreed that we’ve got to find a way to dial down the tone in the state, dial down the hate towards everybody, and find a way to try to bring people together more. The hate is real. The fear of violence in community is real. And we’ve got to stand up to hate wherever and whenever we see it, and that’s one of my lessons coming out of this campaign, we’ve got to find a way to do it.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett