Dana Nessel says she does not feel safe attending her own party’s August 29 convention after experiencing antisemitic threats and harassment. An earlier Michigan Democratic convention provides troubling context, although claims that national media completely ignored the story do not hold up in every case.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says she will not attend the Michigan Democratic Party’s August 29 nominating convention because she fears being harassed by members of her own party.
Nessel, Michigan’s first Jewish person elected to statewide executive office, announced the decision during an antisemitism roundtable in Lansing on July 30.
“I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage,” Nessel said while explaining why she planned to stay away.
Her decision has raised two separate questions: whether antisemitism has become a serious problem within parts of Michigan Democratic politics, and whether the national media has given sufficient attention to a sitting state attorney general saying she fears attending her own party’s convention.
The first concern is supported by a growing body of documented incidents. The second is more complicated than some recent commentary has suggested.
Nessel Says Threats Against Her Are Overwhelmingly Antisemitic
Nessel has explicitly connected the threats she receives to her Jewish identity.
“The threats that I receive are almost exclusively anti-Semitic threats,” she told WLNS. “People aren’t interested in the fact that I’m gay. They’re not interested in the fact that I’m a woman. They are very interested in the fact that I’m Jewish.”
She has also alleged that an unnamed member of the Michigan Democratic Party’s state central and rules committees called both her and Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens “neo-Nazis.”
Nessel says she complained to Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel Jr. about the incident.
That particular accusation has not been independently corroborated. The alleged official has not been publicly identified, and no recording, post or other documentary evidence of the remark has emerged.
The party has confirmed receiving at least one code-of-conduct complaint, but has said it will not discuss pending investigations.
An Earlier Democratic Convention Provides Troubling Context
Nessel’s concerns are not emerging in a vacuum.
At the Michigan Democratic Party’s April 19 endorsement convention in Detroit, multiple news organizations reported that pro-Israel Democrats, including Rep. Haley Stevens and University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker, were booed by delegates.
Acker, who is Jewish, also lost the party’s nomination for another term as regent to attorney Amir Makled.
Makled had previously shared and later deleted social media material referring to Hezbollah figures as “martyrs” and reposted content describing Israelis as “demons,” according to reports documenting the posts.
Makled has rejected accusations of antisemitism. He told MLive that criticism of Israel should not automatically be considered antisemitic and argued that Acker’s defeat reflected anger over the treatment of Arab and Palestinian concerns.
That distinction is important. Opposition to Israeli policies, criticism of Zionism or disagreement with pro-Israel politicians is not automatically evidence of hatred toward Jews.
At the same time, Jewish Democratic officials have argued that some conduct within the party has moved beyond policy criticism into hostility toward Jewish members.
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, another Michigan Democrat, publicly condemned what she called the “deeply troubling” treatment of Israel-supporting candidates following the April convention.
Around 200 Jewish Leaders Demand Protection
Nessel is also not alone in expressing concern about the upcoming convention.
Approximately 200 rabbis and Jewish leaders signed a petition urging Michigan Democratic Party leadership to guarantee the safety of Jewish delegates.
“If Jews, including the highest-ranking Jewish state official in Michigan, are intimidated into staying away from your convention, it will not stop there,” the petition warned.
The letter called on party leadership to make clear that anyone who chases, screams at or harasses Jewish delegates would face legal consequences.
Most of the signatories were from outside Michigan, although several rabbis leading Michigan congregations also signed.
Jessica Alexander, chair of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus, has offered a more nuanced assessment. She said she does not believe the Michigan Democratic Party itself is antisemitic, while acknowledging rising anti-Jewish attitudes among some people within Democratic political circles.
Michigan Democrats Say They Reject Antisemitism
The Michigan Democratic Party has rejected the suggestion that hateful behavior is acceptable at its events.
“The Michigan Democratic Party is committed to ensuring party-hosted events are safe and secure environments for all attendees,” party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman said.
“We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hateful conduct.”
The party said it was working with elected officials and members to prepare for the August 29 convention at the Lansing Center.
What remains unclear is whether any individual accused by Nessel or other Jewish Democrats has faced disciplinary action.
No such sanctions have been publicly announced.
The Media Silence Claim Is More Complicated
HonestReporting subsequently argued that major news organizations, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Politico, had largely ignored Nessel’s decision.
The criticism raises a legitimate question about the national prominence given to the story, but one part of the claim is clearly inaccurate.
CNN did cover the controversy.
The network interviewed Nessel directly on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on August 10 and separately covered Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s response to the dispute on “The Source” several days earlier.
CNN therefore cannot accurately be described as having ignored the story.
No dedicated articles about Nessel’s convention boycott could be identified in searches of The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or Politico.
That does not conclusively establish that those organizations never mentioned the controversy. Paywalls, newsletters, broadcast material and imperfect search indexing make proving a complete absence of coverage difficult.
A more defensible conclusion is that national coverage has been uneven rather than nonexistent.
Regional Michigan outlets, Jewish publications, Fox News and several other national outlets have covered Nessel’s concerns extensively.
A Political Dispute That Cannot Be Reduced to Israel
Some Michigan Democrats dispute Nessel’s characterization of the conflict.
El-Sayed has argued that legitimate criticism of Israel should not be treated as antisemitism.
“I think there is a challenge when folks try to use the specter of antisemitism to extend it toward protecting a foreign government against criticism,” he said on CNN.
That argument deserves to be distinguished from Nessel’s more specific allegations.
Debating Israeli government policy is one thing. Threatening Jewish officials, targeting them because they are Jewish, or using antisemitic rhetoric is another.
Nessel says that distinction has already been crossed.
Whether every incident she describes can ultimately be independently substantiated remains unresolved. Her allegation that a party official called her a “neo-Nazi,” for example, currently rests on her own account.
But the broader concern cannot simply be dismissed as hypothetical.
Michigan Democrats have already experienced an April convention marked by the documented booing of prominent pro-Israel figures. Jewish leaders have demanded greater protection. And the state’s sitting attorney general now says the political environment is hostile enough that she intends to stay home.
For a major political party, that alone is a story worth examining.
