Attendee criticizes congresswoman over ‘pipeline’ of tax dollars to Israel
SAUGATUCK, Mich. — Michigan Democrats gathered this week in a West Michigan congressional district they are trying to flip blue, intending to talk about the cost of living under President Donald Trump. The gathering was held ahead of November’s midterm elections.
A confrontation at the event quickly shifted the conversation to a controversy dividing the party. An attendee approached U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten directly, criticizing the congresswoman for failing to back Abdul El-Sayed, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan.
“Your inflammatory rhetoric has nothing to do with creating a better economic future for the people of West Michigan, and everything to do with protecting the pipeline of our tax dollars to Israel,” the woman said, according to the Associated Press.
According to party leaders, economic concerns give Democrats an opening to win control of Congress, while internal divisions have made it harder to keep focus on that argument — a tension captured by the exchange at Saugatuck.