Haley Stevens slams people bringing her fiancé into Rogers endorsement - Newsweek
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s former primary opponent, Haley Stevens, has hit out at people suggesting her shock endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race was because of her fiance.
Stevens endorsed Rogers on the Sunday before Election Day, after attending a Detroit church service with him. It came after Stevens' fiance Jason Turkish told The Detroit News on Wednesday that he would vote for Rogers, while criticising El-Sayed's rhetoric about Israel.
"Some critics have also dragged my fiancé into this, suggesting he or others must have made my decision for me," Stevens said in a post on X late Monday.
"Think about what that says. A woman can serve in Congress, run statewide, and fight for her convictions, and still be told that when she makes a choice people dislike, someone else must be pulling the strings."
"That is sexism dressed up as political analysis," Stevens added. "My fiancé has his own views. I have mine. I made this decision, and I am proud of it. Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion."
Stevens announced her support for Rogers in a video posted to X just 48 hours shy of Election Day.
"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign. Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now," she said.
"I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. I am just one person. I love this state. I’m just letting you know where I am. I’m still a very proud Democrat," Stevens added.
Just a few days before this, on Wednesday night, Stevens had told CNN that she still backed El-Sayed, despite her fiance's support for Rogers.
“Like a lot of households across America, we’re a household divided,” she said, "I still very much want our Democratic nominee, his name is Abdul, to win this race, there's so much on the line.”
Stevens’ fiance Turkish, a Jewish Democrat civil rights attorney, announced his support for Rogers over El-Sayed last week, describing the decision as “putting country before party.”
He told The Detroit News that he had witnessed “an escalation in [El-Sayed’s] rhetoric since the primary, and it makes folks unsafe.” He added: "Every time he talks about genocide (in Gaza), Jews get death threats."
"To me, this election is about control of the United States Senate," El-Sayed later told CBS News, responding to Turkish's comments. "It's about putting a check on Donald Trump. It's about addressing his effort to try and take away everything from religious freedom to our voting rights to union rights to health care and the big ugly bill.
"So, if folks see another issue that is more important to them and decide that their disagreement with me on that is bigger than their agreement with me on all these other things, that is their choice."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Tony Phillips.
