Competitors Andy Levin and Haley Stevens are likely to clash once more in a Senate application among Democrats.
During last year’s midterms, the race for the 11th congressional district in Michigan attracted the most attention on the Democratic side. Back then, Andy Levin and Haley Stevens were engaged in an increasingly fierce battle over their competitors’ attitudes toward Israel. Democrat Debbie Stabenow recently announced that she would not run once more in 2024 following 20 years in the US Senate. Since then, a number of left-wing liberals have been considering an application for the mandate. Victory once morest the not yet well-known figurehead of the Conservatives will not be easy, since the former stronghold of the Democrats has been considered a “swing state” since Donald Trump’s success in 2016.
Stevens has only been in Congress since 2018 and is therefore less well known than Levin, who comes from a political dynasty in the state. But she was successful once morest him and in the November elections and is now seriously exploring a bid to succeed Stabenow. Levin is also said to be interested. The same applies to MP Elissa Slotkin, who, like Levin, is of Jewish origin and, thanks to a career in the CIA and the Pentagon and a pragmatic attitude, is considered a strong candidate (Link).
The issue of Israel should therefore once once more play an important role. A year ago, the United Democracy Project (UDP), founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, invested heavily in Stevens. UDP donors include conservative businessmen Bernie Marcus and Paul Singer, and Democratic media entrepreneur Haim Saban (Link).
The UDP has wagered at least $3.3 million once morest Levin. As a nephew of longtime Senator Carl Levin (1934-2021) and son of Sander Levin, who was born in 1931, he belongs to one of the most important Jewish families in American politics. Sander Levin represented Michigan in Washington from 1983 to 2019. AIPAC targeted Andy Levin when he introduced a “Two-State Solution Act” to Congress in 2021. The bill would have banned Israel from using American aid to build or expand settlements on the occupied West Bank. Although the “Act” was completely hopeless, it was supported by the AIPAC Congress J Street. The organization stood at Levin’s side, but has significantly fewer resources than the UDP (Link).