A public spat has cast Democratic tensions in the spotlight as the close US Senate race draws to a head

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s tightly fought US Senate race, wants Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens to stay away from his campaign events.

“I don’t want any distractions,” El-Sayed told reporters after a campaign rally, according to the New York Times. “It seems as though other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.”

Order says local officials can’t be forced to separate or stop counting ballots that the government deems to be disputed

A federal judge has barred the justice department from threatening or coercing election workers to stop processing ballots.

The temporary restraining order issued by the US district judge Trina Thompson in the northern district of California late Friday also bars the justice department from demanding local election officials segregate or not count ballots that the federal government deems may have been illegally cast by immigrants, something that is exceedingly rare.