The fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens says he will vote for Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race because, he says, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed “didn’t moderate, he escalated.”
Story Snapshot
- Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat engaged to Rep. Haley Stevens, says he will vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
- Turkish says El-Sayed’s rhetoric on Gaza and Israel has grown worse and makes Jewish families in Michigan less safe.
- Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, still backs him and says her home is “a house divided.”
- El-Sayed has rejected charges that he is antisemitic and has apologized for remarks he made after a synagogue attack in March.
A Democrat’s Public Break in a Tight Senate Race
Jason Turkish announced his choice on Wednesday, October 28, on the sidelines of a Rogers event at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan. The event was sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group that works to elect Republicans and build Jewish support for the party. Turkish is a Michigan lawyer, a registered Democrat and a Democratic donor. He said he is “putting country before party.”
Haley Stevens’ Dem Fiancé Picks Republican Mike Rogers Over Abdul El-Sayed Because of Antisemitism https://t.co/xzEkvvpXFJ
— The Linger Family (@linger_the) October 29, 2026
His reason, he said, is that El-Sayed got harsher instead of softer after winning the primary. “I waited, and I watched and I listened for Abdul to moderate – but he didn’t moderate, he escalated,” Turkish said. “He’s gotten worse, and worse and worse as this general election campaign has gone on.” Mike Rogers is a former Republican congressman and the party’s nominee. El-Sayed, a doctor and former Detroit health official, is the Democratic nominee. The election is Tuesday, November 3.
What Turkish Says Puts His Community at Risk
Turkish pointed to El-Sayed’s repeated use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s war in Gaza. “Every time he talks about genocide, Jews get death threats,” he said. He also faulted El-Sayed for not condemning what Turkish described as “an ad that says Jews are to blame for the price of bananas.” He said El-Sayed “makes my community less safe.”
Turkish also criticized El-Sayed’s ties to Hasan Piker, a California streamer who broadcasts live political talk online to a large audience. He said El-Sayed has grown “verbally combative” with reporters who ask about Piker. “We have never seen a candidate for U.S. Senate act so recklessly toward the safety of Jews,” Turkish said.
He is not the only Stevens ally to cross over. David Kramer, an attorney who chaired Stevens’s campaign, said on Tuesday, October 27, that he also plans to vote for Rogers. Kramer cited El-Sayed’s view that Israel is “not a friend or ally of the United States,” according to reports. A group of Michigan rabbis and Jewish leaders has also asked El-Sayed to commit to five pledges on Jewish safety and identity. They said some criticism of Israel’s government had crossed into antisemitic tropes, meaning old, hateful stereotypes about Jews.
El-Sayed’s Record and His Apology
El-Sayed has rejected the charge that he is antisemitic. “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment I’ve got to my own kids,” he has said. He has also said, “Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms.”
Much of the criticism traces back to March 12, when a man drove a truck loaded with fireworks and gasoline into Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, outside Detroit. About 140 people were inside, most of them children. The attacker died, and no one else was killed. The FBI called it a Hezbollah-inspired act of terror. Hezbollah is an armed group in Lebanon backed by Iran. El-Sayed condemned the attack, but he also said “hurt people hurt people,” noting that the attacker’s relatives had been killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon. Critics said that excused the attack. In August, he apologized to Michigan’s Jewish Democratic Caucus. “If my statement caused pain, I’m sorry,” he said.
Why This Matters for the Ballot Box
Stevens endorsed El-Sayed after he beat her in the August primary, and she says she still wants him to win. “Like a lot of households across America, we’re a house divided,” she said in a televised interview Wednesday night. She has not campaigned with him in public since a unity breakfast soon after the primary, according to reports.
Rogers did not mention Turkish’s support in his remarks at the event. He said El-Sayed “has no business being in the United States Senate” for how he responded to the synagogue attack, and he called Iran “our enemy.” Turkish’s move gives Rogers a fresh pitch to Democrats who are uneasy with their nominee, in the final days before the vote. “I predict to you that Michigan will reject this,” Turkish said.
Sources:
foxnews.com, detroitnews.com, thehill.com, thehill.com, thehill.com, jewishinsider.com, freep.com, politifact.com, nytimes.com
