Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic candidate for Senate, said in a recent radio interview that accusations of genocide against Israel — with which she has previously agreed — have become a “political purity test,” arguing that there has been too much emphasis on that specific word.

McMorrow herself has backed accusations of genocide, affirming in response to a question at an October event that she believes the war in Gaza is a genocide “based on the definition” — though she didn’t specifically utter the word “genocide” herself.

Asked on local radio station WDET last week whether her stance has changed since October, when she affirmed that she believed the war in Gaza met the definition of a genocide, McMorrow did not offer a direct yes or no answer.

“I am somebody who looks at the videos, the photos, the amount of pain that has been caused in the Middle East, and you can’t not be heartbroken,” McMorrow said. 

“But I also feel like we are getting lost in this conversation, and it feels like a political purity test on a word —  a word that, by the way, to people who lost family members in the Holocaust, does mean something very different and very visceral — and we’re losing sight of what I believe is a broadly shared goal among most Michiganders, that this violence needs to stop, that a temporary ceasefire needs to become a permanent ceasefire, that Palestinians deserve long term peace and security, that Israelis deserve long term peace and security, and that should be the role of the next U.S. senator,” she continued.

McMorrow went on to criticize an unnamed opponent for campaigning on the issue of the war in Gaza, presumably referring to Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left Democrat who has made his opposition to Israel a centerpiece of his campaign.

“Particularly in this primary, we’ve got some candidates who are using this as a political weapon and fundraising off of it, and I think that that is just losing the humanity of what we’re seeing in the Middle East. And we deserve better,” McMorrow continued.

El-Sayed has repeatedly sent fundraising emails highlighting his criticisms of Israel, including one on the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which ignored Hamas and criticized Israel. Other fundraising appeals have accused Israel of genocide and highlighted the deaths of journalists, accusations of famine and the death toll in Gaza, as well as blamed AIPAC funding for U.S. lawmakers’ support for Israel.

El-Sayed’s campaign has declared in such fundraising appeals that he is “the only candidate in this race with the courage to speak up — even if AIPAC and MAGA billionaires come after him for doing so” and “one of AIPAC’s top targets to defeat.”

El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

McMorrow and El-Sayed are, functionally, competing for the votes of anti-Israel voters in the state, with Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) maintaining a pro-Israel stance and securing backing from Democratic Majority for Israel.

In the WDET interview, McMorrow said that she continues to support legislation to block offensive weapons sales to Israel.

“The more that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu pushes into Gaza, the worse this gets,” McMorrow said — though Israeli territorial advances in Gaza stopped months ago with the ceasefire deal. “And to be very clear, being in support of Israelis is not being in support of Netanyahu, in the same way that being in support of Palestinians is not the same as being in support of Hamas. … So we need to use the leverage that we have as the United States as an ally to ensure that this war ends and that the ceasefire is a permanent ceasefire.”