Supporters of Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed are attacking reports questioning his eligibility to run as the work of racially motivated party insiders threatened by his progressive politics.

The uproar exposes deep-seated suspicions between warring Democratic Party factions, and threatens to turn Michigans gubernatorial primary into an internecine battleground of the kind party leaders hope to avoid in November.

It is pretty obvious to me that this is a racist attack masquerading as a legal concern, said Betsey Coffia, a Traverse City-based progressive activist, said of a magazine article that raises legal questions about El-Sayeds eligibility to be a candidate.

Nobody can come out and say something blatantly racist, but I do think there is underlying racism and xenophobia with this kind of attack, said Kelly Collison, chair of the Michigan Democratic Partys progressive caucus.

The controversy burst into the open with an article that appeared Wednesday on the website of Michigans Bridge magazine : Abdul El-Sayeds stint in NYC may derail bid for Michigan governor. It cited an obscure state law requiring any candidate for state office to be a registered elector, or voter, in the state for the four years preceding a run for office.