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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Thursday, adding a prominent progressive name to a campaign that spent the week collecting endorsements and cleaning up two of them.

El-Sayed, a physician and former public health official who ran for governor in 2018, is competing against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters. Michigan holds its primary on Aug. 4. Democrats currently hold the seat, and both parties are treating the race as competitive in November.

"After watching this campaign unfold for well over a year, it has become clear that Abdul El-Sayed is the strongest candidate to keep this seat in November," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement circulated by the campaign. She added, "I am proud to endorse Abdul El-Sayed to be Michigan's next senator."

The endorsement follows earlier backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the United Auto Workers.

A national endorsement and an internal dispute

On June 30, the national Indivisible organization and its state affiliate, State Wide Indivisible Michigan, endorsed El-Sayed. The decision prompted a public disagreement inside the group over how it was reached.

Debbie Rosenman, who leads Fighting 9 Indivisible in Ferndale, told the Michigan Advance that an initial vote failed to reach the 60% threshold the group required, and she questioned how later votes were tallied. She said the statewide organization had not explained its counting and argued that the process conflicted with national guidelines.

State Wide Indivisible Michigan disputed that account. The group said it ran candidate forums and multiple polls of chapter leaders over several months, and that a later vote backed El-Sayed with an 80% supermajority. "The decision to endorse El-Sayed by SWIM had already been made by the members in Michigan," the group told the Advance.

A retracted clergy endorsement

The campaign also corrected an endorsement it had published in error. A Facebook post listing clergy supporters included Pastor Derrick McDonald of Pontiac, who said he had not endorsed El-Sayed.

"I never gave this endorsement and I am truly disappointed that this was done without my knowledge," McDonald wrote on his own account. The campaign deleted the post and reposted the list without his name. A spokesperson called the inclusion a miscommunication.

Republican ads and a charge of interference

The National Republican Senatorial Committee ran a digital ad last week calling El-Sayed "too radical for Michigan," citing his support for Medicare for All, his call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a spring campaign event with the online commentator Hasan Piker. The committee has also run ads supporting former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the leading Republican candidate.

Former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has endorsed Stevens, said the Republican spending was meant to shape the Democratic primary rather than to attack El-Sayed. "This is a strategy that's been used in other places around the country to get involved in a primary," she told the Advance. She said Republicans view El-Sayed as the easiest Democrat to beat in November and were "reminding" primary voters of his ties to Sanders and his position on the left. The NRSC has not characterized its spending that way.

Where the race stands

The most recent fully documented public poll, from Emerson College Polling and WOOD-TV, was conducted April 11 to 13 and surveyed 519 likely Democratic primary voters, with a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. It found El-Sayed and McMorrow tied at 24%, Stevens at 13%, and 36% of voters undecided.

The poll showed a generational divide. "Voters under 40 support El-Sayed over McMorrow by a 17-point margin, 35% to 18%, while voters over 50 support McMorrow over El-Sayed by a 12-point margin, 29% to 17%, with 13% supporting Stevens," said Spencer Kimball, Emerson's executive director. In head-to-head matchups against Rogers that month, Emerson found Stevens ahead 47% to 42%, McMorrow ahead 46% to 43%, and El-Sayed tied at 43%.

Reporting since then has pointed to movement in the field. Punchbowl News has reported a roughly $30 million outside advertising effort backing Stevens and has described McMorrow as trailing, with some Democrats urging her to leave the race. The candidates and outside groups have until Aug. 4 to close the gap.