1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

A foreign government is spending to shape who represents Michigan in the U.S. Senate, and that demands your attention. Israel approved a $730 million public relations budget in 2026 — nearly five times the prior year — and its own polling found that pushing narratives about "Radical Islam" and "Jihadism" most effectively reversed unfavorability toward Israel. AIPAC's super PAC, the United Democracy Project, has poured nearly $30 million into the Michigan Democratic primary, running ads that falsely accuse Abdul El-Sayed of sympathizing with terrorists — claims the Detroit Free Press fact-checked and found to be misrepresentations. Full reporting is available at theintercept.com/2026/07/27/abdul-el-sayed-haley-stevens-aipac-senate-michigan. This isn't just opposition research. It's a coordinated effort, backed by foreign government strategy, to disqualify a candidate because of his religion and his position on U.S. military aid to Israel. If El-Sayed were not Muslim, these attacks would not exist in this form — scholars of Islamophobia have drawn direct comparisons to the 2008 smear campaign against Barack Obama. Michigan voters deserve to know who is actually funding the ads in their primary and why. Please investigate the foreign coordination behind this spending and speak out against it publicly.