Democrat Haley Stevens, who was originally scheduled to appear today at an event with former primary rival Abdul El-Sayed, announced she is endorsing his Republican opponent in the Michigan Senate race, Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed had urged Stevens not to attend any events for his campaign after she criticized his failure to condemn a pro-El-Sayed ad widely seen as antisemitic.
“Our Democratic nominee Abdul said I should stay away from his campaign, and he is right. And that is why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” Stevens said in a post on X.
She singled out El-Sayed’s ties to virulent antisemite Hasan Piker, whom El-Sayed has embraced on the campaign trail, denouncing the message of “hate” the pair offer Michigan students.
“I do not stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses,” she said. “A dear friend of mine earlier today said that education is on the ballot. And she’s absolutely right. And what our students see, what our children see, and who we are as Michiganders is not hate. It is not what we are getting out of our Democratic nominee right now.”
Stevens joined Rogers for a church service in Detroit, afterward saying, “we can’t stand with hate,” adding, “I stood with my party, and I was booed off stage.”
Rogers, locked in a tight battle with El-Sayed to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, echoed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, saying, “You can’t solve hate with hate. You have to solve it with love.”
The Republican told of Jewish women on the campus of the University of Michigan who hide their Stars of David and men who cover up their yarmulkas, for fear of being targeted.
“We have gone too far,” he said.
As late as Friday, Stevens was affirming her support for El-Sayed while demanding that he condemn an advertisement from Cenk Uygur’s Rebellion PAC blaming Israel for high grocery prices and that he apologize for his past rhetoric about Israel. Uygur is Piker’s uncle.
“Haley has made it clear to anyone who will listen that remains on Team Dem,” Stevens’ fiancé Jason Turkish told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday. “Her only ask, a very small ask, was to say that we not blame all of society’s high costs on one group of people.”
Such a statement was not forthcoming. And so, two days before the election, Stevens told Michiganders, “My vote for Senate will be for Mike Rogers, because we have to stand with country.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
