Noelle Gray, a morning producer at Detroit's Local 4 television station, has seen the heavy wave of political ads flooding Michigan's Democratic Senate primary up close.

One element stood out amid the ads: the large sums AIPAC directed into the contest pitting US Rep. Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate, against former county health official Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who sharply criticizes Israel.

"It concerns me a little bit because it makes me a little leery of foreign interests being infiltrated into the state of Michigan," said Gray, 27, who voted early on Sunday at her polling place in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park. "I want to support somebody who is for the state of Michigan. I love Michigan. Born and raised here my entire life, and it worries me on corporate and international interests. Are you really focused on Michiganders?"

In the end, Gray said AIPAC spending did not decide her vote. She chose El-Sayed over worries about data centers and immigration enforcement by ICE.

"I would hope putting someone in the position of our Senate will represent our interests, keep us safe, but also protect the people who are here," Gray said.

The lobby has become hard to overlook in the contest. AIPAC's super PAC has invested more than $30 million to support Stevens, setting new records to keep one of its most outspoken Democratic critics out of the Senate.

El-Sayed, who leads Stevens by as much as 16 points in recent polls, has made his opposition to the group a central campaign theme, attacking AIPAC in debates before Tuesday's primary and in ads against Stevens. "AIPAC is perfectly fine with either Congresswoman Stevens or Mike Rogers," El-Sayed posted on X earlier this month, referring to the Republican Senate nominee. "If either of them win, Israel wins."

Surveys in Michigan point to broad opposition to AIPAC among Democratic voters. A recent poll of 500 likely Michigan Democratic primary voters for Detroit News/WDIV-TV showed 49 percent hold an unfavorable view of AIPAC, 12 percent view it favorably, and 39 percent are neutral. An April survey by Data for Progress found that 64 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they are less likely to back a Senate candidate who takes AIPAC donations.

Josh Pasek, a professor of communication and media and political science at the University of Michigan, said he did not believe most voters in the state were deciding mainly on Israel and AIPAC matters.

"I think most people care a whole lot more about substantive issues," Pasek said. He noted the topic mattered more to Jewish and Muslim voters, groups he described as sizeable in the state. Michigan has more than 240,000 Muslims and roughly 129,000 Jews.

AIPAC Spending Not Top Priority for Voters

Despite the attention AIPAC has drawn, early voters on Sunday indicated the group's spending was not the main factor in their choices. Even those worried about money in politics often listed AIPAC alongside other sources of spending and issues such as affordability and immigration.

Gray was among many Michiganders who voted early at a center in Oak Park, a diverse suburb with a sizable Orthodox Jewish population. For many non-Jewish voters who spoke with reporters, other topics outweighed AIPAC.

Nicole Haines, 40, of Berkeley, another Detroit suburb, and an El-Sayed supporter, said opposing super PAC spending ranked below priorities like women's rights, affordability, and checking President Donald Trump's power.

Haines viewed the heavy focus on Israel and AIPAC as a way for candidates to avoid issues that could hurt them later.

"What I think every American cares about is: Can I figure out a way to pay my bills and pursue what makes me happy?" Haines said. "And so I think [Israel and AIPAC] was an issue that allowed the candidates to keep some distance from talking about direct issues here and potentially, especially in that primary cycle, threatening their own success in the general by having an issue to hold up that almost acts as a foil."

For Inez Thomas, an Oak Park resident, Israel and AIPAC barely factored in at all. Thomas voted for Stevens because she "is really working on Michigan's behalf."

"I haven't been following Israel," Thomas said. "I know there's a war and stuff going over there, but if they are worried about [Stevens], they need to worry about the current president because he is the one creating a lot of that. He is the one that have our military people over there."

The gap between AIPAC's role in the campaign and its weight for some voters comes as El-Sayed has drawn criticism from some Jewish leaders for his emphasis on the group.

"Those candidates who are solely talking about AIPAC are failing to see that American voters are voting on a range of issues in this election, most of them have to do with affordability, with the defense of our democracy, with our security, safety, and well-being," said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

Soifer added that the rhetoric carried a deeper risk.

"This is an issue that could potentially even endanger our security by again fanning the flames of antisemitism," Soifer said. "I really think that at best they are missing the boat on what voters want to hear about. At worst, they are repeating what has become a dangerous antisemitic trope."

Haley Stevens Worried About El-Sayed's AIPAC Emphasis

Stevens has also faulted her rival's focus on AIPAC, writing in a recent post on X, "Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans."

Jessica "Decky" Alexander, the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus chair, shared some of Stevens' concerns about El-Sayed's emphasis on AIPAC.

"Is he blaming corporations or AIPAC for housing prices and what? Because of gas prices? Because there's a war? Is everything now the Jews' fault?," Alexander said. "I mean, I don't think he thinks that, but I can see how that would be interpreted as such, and it makes me nervous."

Other Jewish groups have backed scrutiny of AIPAC while urging candidates to be precise in their criticism.

Jamie Beran, the CEO of Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish group, said the scale of the group's spending and its "anti-progressive political agenda" in Michigan deserved attention, but candidates should avoid "antisemitic terms" when critiquing the group. The organization has held trainings with candidates, including El-Sayed, to steer them clear of problematic language.

"It's important to be careful not to have a double standard for them," Beran said. "But I also think that there's a way that that accusation around it being a double standard or around it being antisemitic to call them out is just another way that they get protected from legitimate critique."

Eli Williams-Szenes, Bend the Arc's director of advocacy and political affairs, said the group had held a "productive conversation with the El-Sayed team about best language practices."

In the trainings, the group tells participants, "Do not refer to the Israel lobby. Do not refer to Zionists. Don't talk about the Jews. Be specific," Williams-Szenes said. "When people stray into the generalities is where it gets really dangerous."

El-Sayed Backers Emphasize Opposition to Outside Funds

Some voters in Oak Park echoed El-Sayed's objections to outside spending.

Sean Lathrop, 36, of Oak Park, said he voted for El-Sayed because he felt it was vital to "get money out of politics."

But he said he was less concerned about AIPAC spending than about spending by DTE Energy, a Detroit-based utility that has faced backlash for raising energy prices.

"We want to see politicians be represented by the people, not represented by the corporations," Lathrop said. "Honestly, DTE bothered me more than AIPAC because we know how big of a problem DTE is, and [Stevens] received $40,000 from DTE." (DTE's PAC has donated $35,000 to Stevens' congressional campaign committee over four election cycles, according to Politifact.)

Seth Resler, 49, of Oak Park, said he voted for El-Sayed and shared concerns about outside spending in the race.

But he also saw the focus on AIPAC as a result of a primary where candidates needed to highlight differences.

"When you are in a primary race, there's not a lot of difference between the positions of the candidates, so you have to take the issues that are different and magnify them," Resler said. "I think that's what happened here."