You should write a custom authentication backend.
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from django.contrib.auth.backends import ModelBackend
class EmailBackend(ModelBackend):
def authenticate(self, request, username=None, password=None, **kwargs):
UserModel = get_user_model()
try:
user = UserModel.objects.get(email=username)
except UserModel.DoesNotExist:
return None
else:
if user.check_password(password):
return user
return None
Then, set that backend as your auth backend in your settings:
AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = ['path.to.auth.module.EmailBackend']