US Democrat Haley Stevens has said she is endorsing Republican candidate Mike Rogers, over her own party's nominee Abdul El-Sayed, days before the Michigan Senate contest.
Aipac-backed Stevens, who lost the Michigan Senate primary to progressive El-Sayed, endorsed his Republican rival in a video posted on X on Sunday, just days before the midterm elections.
The race is considered by analysts to be one of the most important Senate contests of the cycle.
El-Sayed is an outspoken critic of Israel's genocide in Gaza, whereas Rogers is a hardline Republican ally of US President Donald Trump.
The move prompted a fierce backlash among Democrats, with Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, condemning it as a "despicable betrayal".
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El-Sayed himself refused to be drawn into the backlash, saying "none of this matters".
“I don’t want any distractions,” he said, according to the New York Times.
"Folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.”