A mysterious political group using a media-buying firm tied to pro-Israel spending is pouring more than $5.3 million into ads boosting U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, raising fresh questions about whether Zionist donors are trying to shape the race from the shadows.
The group, the Center for Democratic Priorities Inc., placed the ad buy in the Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Lansing, and Traverse City media markets. The ads are scheduled to run from May 9 through May 31.
The ad campaign comes days after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) sent fundraising emails promoting Stevens and Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, while attacking El-Sayed and Graham Platner, Collins’s Democratic challenger.
The Center for Democratic Priorities bought the airtime through Waterfront Strategies, a media-buying firm that has worked with AIPAC-affiliated super PACs, including United Democracy Project.
The spending will likely intensify the Democratic primary’s growing fight over money, Israel, and outside influence. Stevens, a Birmingham Democrat who has called herself a “Zionist” and “proud pro-Israel Democrat,” has long drawn support from AIPAC and other pro-Israel donors. El-Sayed, a former Detroit and Wayne County health official, has made opposition to AIPAC and unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel a central part of his campaign.
McMorrow, a state senator from Royal Oak, has also pledged not to take money from AIPAC and has criticized the war in Gaza, though her own history with pro-Israel politics is more complicated. As Metro Times previously reported, McMorrow prepared a position paper for AIPAC that she has not released publicly, and she attended an invite-only AIPAC fundraiser alongside Republican members of Michigan’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, who confirmed meeting her there.
“Michiganders will see through this clear attempt to buy this race for Congresswoman Stevens,” Roxie Richner, a spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign, said in a statement. “AIPAC has stated time and time again that they see Abdul as tremendous threat to the U.S.-Israel relationship, due to his unwavering opposition to Netanyahu’s genocide and the unconditional aid we now give to Israel.”
Richner added, “Abdul is the only candidate in this race who has never taken a dime of corporate PAC money or met with AIPAC. Michiganders are inspired by his message to get money out of politics, money back in pockets, and pass Medicare for All, and unfortunately for Rep. Stevens, you can’t buy your way to actual momentum.”
Stevens has received more than $5.4 million from the pro-Israel lobby over her political career. Ads funded by AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups are often deceptive and don’t mention Israel. Instead, the ads highlight domestic issues, like immigration, taxes, and voting rights, that resonate with voters.
The ads purchased by the Center for Democratic Priorities Inc. to boost Stevens touts her efforts to “hold ICE accountable.” They praise Stevens for calling for federal oversight of immigration enforcement. In one spot, a narrator says Stevens is pushing legislation to create an independent special prosecutor to investigate alleged misconduct by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
McMorrow’s campaign also blasted the ad buy, pointing out that Stevens’s record on immigration enforcement is shaky.
“No amount of dark money will paper over the fact that Haley Stevens voted to thank Trump’s ICE agents and proudly took thousands in corporate PAC money from the company that makes ICE’s TASERs,” Hannah Lindow, McMorrow’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
The McMorrow campaign pointed to Stevens’s vote on June 9, 2025, for a House resolution that expressed gratitude to law enforcement officers, “including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.” The resolution passed 280-113, with Stevens among 75 Democrats voting yes.
McMorrow’s campaign said the ad appears designed to shield Stevens from criticism over her ICE record. The campaign also said Stevens twice updated her campaign website to publicly urge outside groups to “immediately” run ads portraying her as fighting ICE, and that paperwork filed with the FCC confirms the new ads are about ICE.
The Stevens campaign declined to comment on this story.
The Center for Democratic Priorities has little public history. The group does not appear to have a searchable Federal Election Commission committee record under its exact name, and no public IRS filing, Form 990, or Form 8976 notice was located.
The only concrete public record found so far is a domain registration for centerfordemocraticpriorities.com, created on Oct. 28, 2025, through GoDaddy. The registration shows someone had reserved the website address months before the ad buy, but it does not reveal when the group was legally formed, who created it, or who controls it.
The group registered in late October at an address in Dover, Delaware, and did not appear to have filed with the Federal Election Commission or the Internal Revenue Service as of Monday.
The group appears to have recently launched a website at democraticpriorities.org, which identifies it as the Center for Democratic Priorities and describes its issues as democracy and voting rights, economic fairness and the cost of living, reproductive freedom, and “Immigration & ICE Accountability.” The site says the group opposes using ICE “as a political weapon against immigrant communities” and supports more transparency, oversight, and accountability for the agency. But the website does not identify the group’s officers, donors, funders, legal structure, or political clients.
The lack of public filings and identifying information on the website make it difficult to determine whether the Center for Democratic Priorities is a nonprofit, LLC, 527 group, or another kind of issue-advertising vehicle.
The ad buy bears similarities to a 2024 Michigan congressional primary, when a pop-up super PAC called Blue Wave Action spent nearly $2.3 million attacking Detroit City Councilmember Mary Waters, who was challenging U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar.
After the primary, filings showed Blue Wave Action was funded in part by United Democracy Project and Voters For Responsive Government, both AIPAC-affiliated groups. Blue Wave Action also reported a $10,000 payment to AIPAC for “Personnel/Administrative Support.”
A board officer listed in TV station paperwork for the Center for Democratic Priorities is named John Jones. A person with the same name was listed as treasurer for Blue Wave Action.
The new spending does not prove AIPAC is funding the Center for Democratic Priorities, and no public filing has identified the source of the money behind the pro-Stevens ads. But the group’s opaque structure, the timing of the buy, and the reported overlap in vendors and personnel resemble past AIPAC-linked spending operations in Michigan, raising questions about whether pro-Israel donors are again using a little-known outside group to influence a Democratic primary.
AIPAC has increasingly become a flashpoint in Democratic primaries, particularly in races involving candidates critical of Israel’s war in Gaza. Last week, AIPAC promoted Stevens in a fundraising appeal alongside Collins, one of the Republican Party’s most vulnerable Senate incumbents. The appeal described El-Sayed and Platner as threats to the U.S.-Israel relationship and accused them of pushing “false accusations of genocide.”
Stevens’s campaign later said she did not authorize the joint fundraising appeal with Collins and does not support Collins or any Republican Senate candidate.
The Stevens campaign previously told Metro Times that “Haley knows a Democratic Senate Majority is critical to stopping Donald Trump’s abuses of power, and does not support Susan Collins or any Republican running for U.S. Senate.”
The page was later changed to feature only Stevens.
El-Sayed’s campaign said the latest ad buy shows AIPAC and its allies are trying to hide their influence through other entities and PACs. The campaign pointed to other races in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Oregon where it said AIPAC steered money through outside groups to aid favored candidates.
The fight over outside spending is not limited to Stevens. McMorrow and El-Sayed have both criticized super PACs and dark money in the race, while Stevens allies have argued that both candidates have benefited from outside groups of their own.
The Democratic primary is one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. They are vying for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat.
