Stevens’ fiance says he’ll back Rogers as she reaffirms El-Sayed vote
The lingering tensions spilled into public view again Wednesday, when Jason Turkish, the fiance of Rep. Haley Stevens — El-Sayed’s former primary opponent — told The Detroit News that he would vote for Republican Mike Rogers. Hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN to reaffirm that she would be voting for El-Sayed, but urged his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”
“Make people who are in my coalition, right, make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls,” said Stevens, who drew significant support from Jewish and Black voters during the primary.
Criticism of El-Sayed has persisted for months, both privately and publicly, since a contentious primary divided voters and party leaders. Rather than focusing solely on uniting the party’s traditional coalition in the aftermath of the primary, El-Sayed has sought to bring new voters — particularly college students and rural residents — into the fold.
El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel, his past remarks and his associations with the controversial streamer Hasan Piker have long drawn concern from some in Michigan’s large Jewish community. Turkish and others in the Jewish community have said El-Sayed hasn’t done enough to address those concerns ahead of the general election.
The latest controversy centered on an ad by Rebellion PAC, an independent left-wing group, that linked U.S. support for Israel to high grocery prices. “That has nothing to do with our campaign,” El-Sayed said of the ad. “It’s certainly not what I want to be talking about right now.” Stevens and other Democrats urged him to go further, to denounce the content of the advertisement rather than merely distance himself from it.
Republicans face political challenges of their own, particularly voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the Iran war and high costs. Rogers has remained closely aligned with the president on most issues, appearing alongside him at a Michigan rally Sunday where he credited Trump with bringing manufacturing jobs back to the state.
El-Sayed has sought to capitalize on that dissatisfaction, holding campaign events in heavily Republican areas, including Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. His campaign also released an ad featuring clips of prominent conservative figures praising him, including Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who has also been accused of antisemitism, which he has denied. That outreach has created another source of friction with some Jewish voters.
Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield criticized both the Rebellion PAC ad and El-Sayed’s campaign ad during a call with reporters. “We are one week away from the election, and it feels like the temperature has turned way up,” Starr said. “Instead of things getting better over the last seven weeks, they’ve actually gotten worse.”
With less than a week until Election Day, the question now is whether those divisions will outweigh voter frustration with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.