“We’re going to have to go up a block.” Decky Alexander and Lex Eisenberg are canvassing for two very different Democrats who both want to be Michigan’s next senator. In Detroit, Lex is knocking doors for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official running on Medicare-for-all, taxing the rich and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. “He’s the only candidate with the moral clarity to call what we are seeing in Palestine a genocide.” In the suburbs, Decky’s campaigning for Congresswoman Haley Stevens, a centrist focused on affordability and countering President Trump. She said Stevens’ support for Israel and the Jewish community here makes her feel safe. “She has been unapologetic in advocating for us.” “Really a champion for our community and combating antisemitism.” Polls show American support for Israel has plummeted amid the fallout from its war in Gaza, including among Jews, and that’s helping to reshape the Democratic Party. “The story of my adult life has been having to close your eyes while you cast your ballot. It feels wild to actually have a candidate who I think can represent my views.” “In this race, I actually feel excited spending our tax dollars here and not like on endless wars abroad. The status quo is unacceptable.” “Yeah.” “Let’s do this one.” Israel had never been a top issue for Decky, but that changed after Oct. 7. “When Oct. 7 happened, I’m like, ‘Oh, those are the pogroms.’ It was all so abstract to me until that very moment. I’m only a couple generations out of the Holocaust. It feels like history repeating itself.” In Ann Arbor, Mich., where she lives, she felt attacked when the City Council considered a cease-fire resolution. “Gaza has lived under a brutal occupation for 75 years.” “It felt different. It really just felt about me as a Jew. And that’s actually why I think it’s been so profound for me personally and politically. For most of my adult life, I don’t think I knew in my bones, muscles, the depth of hate towards me.” Like Decky, lots of American Jews still feel attached to Israel, but more than half also now say that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, and 39 percent call it a genocide. “A lot of American Jews were taught that supporting the state of Israel was what made Jewish people Jewish. That never really sat quite right with me. My youth group took what was called a teen mission to Israel. No one said the word Palestine or Palestinian the entire time I was there. When I learned what had happened, and what was happening, I thought it was wrong and I was opposed to it. If we spent what we spent funding the genocide in Gaza here in our communities, what could be possible?” In April, when Haley Stevens took the stage at a Michigan Democratic event, she was loudly booed over her support for Israel. “Michigan Democrats, I’m standing up here.” “Many of these really engaged voters in the Democratic Party have been calling her office, and she hasn’t listened to them, and so they booed.” “It was more than booing. It was a shutting down of a candidate who is pro-Israel. That moment crystallized for a lot of people like, ‘Can I have my voice be heard in this space if my congresswoman can’t be heard?’” “Again, my name is Haley Stevens, and I’m running to be Michigan’s next U.S. senator. We are getting ripped off and rolled by Donald Trump and his corrupt policies.” The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC has poured tens of millions of dollars into the race to support the Stevens campaign. But with just days left before the Aug. 4 primary, polls show El-Sayed in the lead. “I don’t know about you all, but I don’t pay my taxes to buy another country a bomb or a tank.” “People have really strong views on Israel. If he gets the nomination, for some people that would be really difficult.” “I think his campaign is based on two simple ideas. One is that every human life is precious, and the other is that our lives just don’t need to be this hard.” If El-Sayed wins, he’ll join a wave of progressives trying to reshape the Democratic Party. But unlike them, he’s not running in a deep-blue district. He’d have to win a state that swung for Donald Trump twice.