Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), a moderate Michigan lawmaker representing a swing district, broke with most other Democratic members of the Michigan congressional delegation in declining to offer an explicit endorsement of Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as of Wednesday afternoon, after offering strident criticism of him during the primary campaign.

“Congratulations to everyone who participated in Michigan’s hard-fought primary elections last night, and thank you to every voter who made your voice heard. In these close elections, we want you to know — you are HEARD,” Scholten said in a statement that did not mention El-Sayed. “Now our focus turns forward. I’ve always said I’ll work with anyone committed to lowering costs, expanding affordable health care, creating more opportunity, and fighting corruption. I mean that.”

A Scholten spokesperson did not respond to a request for clarification on whether this constituted an endorsement of El-Sayed.

Scholten said that she is a “proud, commonsense Democrat” and said that she’s focused on helping to elect “similar candidates around the country.”

During the campaign, as a vocal supporter of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Scholten suggested she might struggle to support El-Sayed in the general election.

“I will not stand beside someone who has allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to enter our public dialogue,” she said in one interview.

In another, she criticized El-Sayed for campaigning with antisemitic and anti-Israel influencer Hasan Piker. 

“To campaign with Hasan Piker, who said America deserved Sept. 11 — sure, he went on to disavow those comments, but I’m telling you, nobody on my team would ever, you know, come even close to making a comment like that,” she said. “I think that condoning behavior like this from candidates like Abdul El-Sayed is taking us in a direction that we don’t want to go as a party.”

Other Democratic moderates, with the exception of maverick Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), are largely keeping their heads down following the election, with several contacted by JI declining to comment or not responding to requests. 

Other Democrats are backing El-Sayed.

“He worked hard. People in Michigan had their word last night, and I imagine he’s going to work really hard over the next 90 days to win this race, and it’s obviously a critical one,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said. “If we’re going to fix some of the problems created by this president, we’ve got to win back the Senate.”

Asked whether he believes the narrow margin of victory for El-Sayed might imperil his chances in November, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who had supported Stevens in the primary, offered a short response: “Yeah, he could win. Definitely.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said he hasn’t met El-Sayed but noted that Stevens had endorsed him and “my sense is that whatever divisiveness there might have been because of the primary, they’re … past it.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) declined to comment on El-Sayed’s history or his decision to campaign with Piker, and said that he doesn’t think “generalizations are possible from one race” about the direction of the party, “whether it’s in Brooklyn or Michigan.”