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Jordan Acker in 2024 after his law office was vandalized
At the cavernous Huntington Place in downtown Detroit, state delegates gathered over the weekend for the Michigan Democratic Party's spring convention to nominate candidates for offices including attorney general, secretary of state, university trustees, and Supreme Court justices. Ideally, after all the candidates are given the party’s blessing and the squabbling ends, it's time for unity.
But this year felt different. Jewish Democrats may have left the convention wondering whether they are still welcome in the party they have belonged to and supported for decades.
Nolan Finley, the chief editorial editor for the Detroit News, wrote that the convention had an "undercurrent of antisemitism."
"It's extensive," University of Michigan Trustee Jordan Acker told Finley, referring to antisemitism in the party. "The question we have to ask as Jews is whether we still belong here?"
The issue is Israel, of course, and for some Jews, a feeling that anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments in some factions of the party have become increasingly indistinguishable.
Sam Robinson, a reporter for the Michigan Chronicle, wrote of two Israel supporters who were there:
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and Jordan Acker were booed by party delegates Sunday at the Michigan Democratic Party Convention. The outbursts illustrated the major divide between Democrats as leaders attempt to unite ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Alex Rodriguez, a 20-year-old co-chair of the Ann Arbor-based Workers Against Oppression coalition, told the Michigan Chronicle: “What we saw today, what happened to Haley, what happened to Acker, was consequence of ignoring the people who’ve been fighting against the genocide we’re complicit in abroad.”
Lost Bid
Acker lost his bid to run for re-election to the U-M board. Delegates picked his opponent, Amir Makled of Dearborn, an Arab American attorney who defended pro-Palestinian, anti-Gaza war protesters arrested at the U-M campus.
On Friday, leading up to the conference, Brandon Dillon, former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, wrote an op-ed piece in the Detroit News, saying Makled didn't belong in the party. Dillon noted Makled had previously made antisemitic social media comments referring to Israeli Jews as “demons" who “lie, cheat, murder and blackmail.” Makled, Dillon wrote, also shared an antisemitic meme using a slur originally coined by ISIS, and he amplified content calling for Jews to be banned from serving in Congress.
A text from an unknown party also circulated, saying Acker is “Israel’s choice for U of M Regent," in what the Michigan Advance suggested was an attempt to create backlash against Acker.
Two years ago, vandals struck Acker's Southfield law office, spray-painting it with pro-Palestinian graffiti. Months later, in the early morning hours, vandals attacked his Huntington Woods home with his wife and three daughters inside, breaking a window and painting his wife's car with similar graffiti.
"I call upon members of the Michigan community to publicly repudiate this vile anti-Semitic intimidation," Acker posted on Instagram after the attack.
As the Gaza war raged on, anti-Israel protesters on campus had been going after Acker while demanding the school stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. Protesters also weren't happy Acker urged the breakup of the protests on campus and the prosecution of those who harassed Jewish students.
On top of all that, last Friday The Guardian reported that Acker was alleged to have made obscene sexual comments about a Democratic Party strategist in a group chat on Slack and also wrote lewd comments about a female U-M student about five years ago. Acker told the Detroit News on Sunday the allegations were "ridiculous" and "fake." His attorney said he had never been on Slack, a communication and collaboration platform designed to replace email with real-time messaging.
Mallory McMorrow, Abdul El-Sayed, Haley Stevens
Congresswoman Stevens, who is not Jewish, also took some grief at the convention for being a supporter of Israel and a recipient of donations from AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group. In some progressive circles, the organization's acronym has become political kryptonite.
Social media videos showed people loudly booing Stevens, a U.S. Senate candidate, chanting "shame on you."
She tried to deflect the dissent by saying: "Democrats, I love you, even when we disagree."
The Michigan Advance also weighed in, authoring a piece titled: "Election 2026 Political fault line over Israel comes into full view during Michigan Democrats’ convention."
The publication wrote:
Nearly every candidate endorsed by the Michigan Democratic Party Progressive Caucus won their races Sunday, meaning it may have been a particularly tough crowd for candidates viewed as moderate.
Too Far Left?
Pollster Ed Sarpolus, executive director of Target Insyght of Lansing, sees potential trouble for Michigan Democrats if they lean too far left.
"The leaders of the party have disappeared," he tells Deadline Detroit. "The same people who brought the Democrats the losses in 2024 are still running the party in ‘26. They're the people who lean pretty much to the Bernie Sanders people."
He said one reason for some Jewish Democrats feeling alienated is that lines are being blurred between anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments in the party.
He said the delegates over the weekend may not fully reflect the Democratic electorate statewide. Because the convention was held in downtown Detroit, he said many delegates in the state came from Wayne and Washtenaw counties, where there are more progressives. He said there was little attempt to bring in more delegates from elsewhere to balance things off.
"Democrats don't have control of their own party," he said.
Freelance journalist Doron Levin of Metro Detroit, who is Jewish, tells Deadline Detroit:
"There's no getting around the fact that Jews in the country, typically except those who are orthodox, have been Democrats. But the party is not really what it used to be. I think the Democratic Party has not been properly appreciative of the role that Jews have played in progressive movements in this country insofar as (the party doesn't) speak out loudly against anti Zionist and anti Jewish voices."
National Attention
It's also clear the nation is paying attention to Michigan. CNN produced a segment titled: "Must-win Michigan Senate race turns messy for Democrats amid fight over Israel and future of the party."
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive Arab American born in Michigan, who is running for U.S. Senate, spoke with CNN's Manu Raju and was unapologetic about his anti-Israel criticism.
El-Sayed also defended campaigning with political commentator Hasan Piker, who has said Hamas is "a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state" of Israel.
El-Sayed tells CNN Israel is just as evil as Hamas. "Yes, killing tens of thousands of people makes you pretty damn evil. It's not how evil, this one versus that one. Hamas evil. Israeli government evil. We can say both."
El-Sayed also criticized his opponent Stevens for taking AIPAC money. Stevens is clearly the most supportive of Israel among the three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates.
"I find that disastrous for our politics, and you should be more interested in what's happening in Michigan than you are interested in what's happening in Tel Aviv," he said as he spoke about the Middle East situation.
Democratic State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is also running for U.S. Senate, tells CNN Israel has committed war crimes. And unlike El-Sayed, Congresswoman Stevens said she doesn't believe Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
"I just think we need to see long-term peace," she told CNN.
Whatever the outcome, it has Jews like Hannan Lis, a pro-Israel Democrat in Metro Detroit, concerned about the party.
Over the weekend, Hannan, who also spends time in Israel, posted on Facebook:
"In light of the recent developments within the Michigan Democratic Party, I went back and reread my post from March 8, 2026. At that time, I attempted to sound the alarm regarding the party’s dangerous pivot away from the mainstream Jewish community and toward the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“I am sorry to report that my concerns are being validated in real-time on the floor of the Michigan Democratic nominating convention.”
