Democratic U-M Regents Race Ablaze With Infighting Between Jordan Acker, Challenger Amir Makled

Michigan Advance

April 15, 2026

Ongoing tensions within the Michigan Democratic Party involving two candidates for a position with the University of Michigan Board of Regents boiled over this week.

The drama pitted an incumbent, Jordan Acker, against a challenger, Amir Makeld, in a war of words, attack ads that landed in party members’ mailboxes and text messages, and the excavation of old, controversial social media posts — some dealing with Israel’s war in Gaza.

Party members will meet in Detroit on Sunday to endorse candidates for secretary of state, attorney general, Michigan Supreme Court and university boards – the latter of which has quickly become unusually contentious.

Acker and fellow Regent Paul Brown face a challenge from Makled, a Dearborn civil rights attorney who represented pro-Palestinian students who faced charges by Attorney General Dana Nessel that were eventually dropped.

It was reported last week that Makled deleted a series of reposts on his X account that praised fallen leaders of the Iranian regime and a key leader in the Lebanese Hezbollah militia group, which has been labeled a terrorist organization in the United States.

That led to sniping at the back of Acker from unknown parties, who over the weekend sent an anonymous text message calling Acker “Israel’s choice for U of M Regent” and mischaracterizing a meeting Acker held with Israeli President Isaac Hertzog.

The text is written as if it is an appeal in support of Acker, but it appeared to be trying to generate backlash against Acker, who is Jewish, and has previously been targeted by vandals damaging his home, office and vehicle.

“We need a candidate who is going to put Israel first, and that’s the type of candidate Jordan Acker is,” the text said. “If protecting Israel is your number one priority, vote for Jordan Acker, he’s the shield we need.”

Acker said in a statement that the message was a “dishonest attempt by the opposition to mislead delegates and damage my campaign.”

The Michigan Democratic Party indicated that it was looking into the text messages. Curtis Hertel, the party’s chair, said in an email to members that the text violates campaign finance law and “MDP standards of decency, transparency and the trust placed in the MDP when we share member information.”

A flyer sent over the weekend by Michigan Deserves Better, a nonprofit that doesn’t have to report its donors, says Makled “isn’t right to lead” and claims his law firm “defended a child pornography ring.”

Rina Mohammad, a co-founder of The People’s Coalition, said the flyer relies on “clear anti-Muslim and anti-Arab tropes.”

Mohammad wrote in a statement signed by more than 30 advocacy groups that the attack ads create a “false and harmful binary — pitting Jewish, and Arab and Muslim communities against one another. We reject this outright, and will not be fooled by this false narrative.”

Hertel said the party is investigating both the anonymous text message and “dark money” mailer and “will do everything in our power to uncover those behind these actions.”

“This misuse of the MDP membership will not be tolerated,” he said. “Further, text messages and mail sent to members using the membership list that lacks transparency, conceals the identity of the sender, or is perceived as misleading is unacceptable and undermines our shared values and our collective work as Michigan Democrats.”

He said the MDP’s membership list is only shared with Democratic statewide candidates and partners.

But Mohammad said in the letter that the MDP speaking out after the text targeting Acker is a double standard because party leaders didn’t speak out about a March 19 opinion piece published in the Jewish News Syndicate titled “A ‘Mamdani effect’ is brewing in Michigan” that accuses the coalition of “backing Islamo-Socialist candidates statewide,” and says the group’s “contempt for Jews is brazen.”

Makled told The Michigan Daily he entered the race after being detained by federal agents while providing pro-bono legal representation to the pro-Palestinian student activists. The article in the Jewish News Syndicate claims Makled was detained at an airport for “alleged terrorist ties.”

Service Employees International Union rescinded its endorsement of Makled Wednesday, citing “new information that was not available at the time our endorsement was made.”

The University of Michigan’s graduate student union urged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to rescind her endorsement of Acker the same day, saying he “failed to stand up to the Trump administration,” “is antagonistic to labor unions whose positions he disagrees with and uses his public platform to denigrate students and workers,” and “undermined academic freedom and freedom of speech on campus.”

Mohammad wrote in The People’s Coalition’s letter that “anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian hate, and antisemitism are each just as real, harmful, and dangerous.”

“When one type of hate is condemned immediately and others are repeatedly ignored, it sends a damaging message that some communities are valued more than others – that some are protected, while others are treated as second-tier and expected to endure harm in silence,” Mohammad wrote.

The MDP says it will conduct a fair process for all candidates. The party is planning for more than 6,000 members to attend.

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