In the closing days of a bitter Michigan Senate contest, a Democrat who lost her party's primary has chosen to cross over and back the Republican challenger, and in doing so has exposed how fragile unity can be when disputes over antisemitism and loyalty run hot. The break came after weeks of accusation and counter-accusation between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, a quarrel that turned on a controversial advertisement and on who gets to decide what counts as condemnation. As the outcome of a race that bears on control of the Senate draws near, the question hanging over it is less about poli
El-Sayed's Left-Wing Allies Lash Out at Stevens After Her Endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers
"Nothing is perfect," Stevens said, as a heckler called her a traitor
Mark
Why does one endorsement land so hard here?
Mimi
Stevens lost the primary to El-Sayed by a narrow margin, then backed his Republican opponent in a race that matters for the Senate. That's a rupture inside the party at the worst moment.
Mark
What set it off?
Mimi
A Rebellion PAC ad tying grocery prices to U.S. military support for Israel. Stevens called it antisemitic and demanded El-Sayed condemn it. He said it wasn't his ad and he disagreed with it.
Mark
And the disinvitation?
Mimi
His campaign pulled her from a unity event. Then she endorsed Rogers.
Luke
Worth separating things. The reactions are documented, but words like traitor, evil and paid handsomely are characterizations from critics, not findings.
Mark
Fair. What about Hasan's point that she'd just told the Times she backed El-Sayed?
Luke
That's his claim. The reporting here doesn't show the Times piece, so it's attributed, not confirmed.
Mimi
Lovett makes a similar point about her flip-flopping, also his account.
Luke
And the RNC says Rogers is building a coalition of Democrats. That's a party spokesman's framing, with no numbers offered.
Mark
What do we actually know about her reasoning?
Luke
Very little. Her one quoted line is "Nothing is perfect." The rest is others speaking about her motives.
Il Polso
- Within hours of Stevens's endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers, prominent voices on the left were calling her a traitor and worse.
- A dispute over an ad blaming Israel policy for grocery prices has split Democrats over whether the message was antisemitic.
- El-Sayed's campaign has distanced itself from the ad, while his own allies continue to defend it and attack his critics.
- The Michigan race, pivotal to Senate control, now faces a visible rupture in Democratic ranks with no clear sign of repair.
- Republicans are openly courting disaffected Democrats, and whether party leaders condemn or embrace Stevens will shape what comes next.
In the closing days of a bitter Michigan Senate contest, a Democrat who lost her party's primary has chosen to cross over and back the Republican challenger, and in doing so has exposed how fragile unity can be when disputes over antisemitism and loyalty run hot. The break came after weeks of accusation and counter-accusation between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, a quarrel that turned on a controversial advertisement and on who gets to decide what counts as condemnation. As the outcome of a race that bears on control of the Senate draws near, the question hanging over it is less about policy than about whether a party can hold together when its own members feel betrayed.
On Sunday, hours after Rep. Haley Stevens announced she would back Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race, some of the most visible voices on the American left turned on her. Only days earlier she had been the Democrat who lost the party's primary to Abdul El-Sayed, and now she was lending her support to the man she had once said must be defeated.
The road to that decision ran through a fight over antisemitism. Stevens had accused El-Sayed of failing to condemn overt antisemitism among some of his backers, especially after an ad supporting him, produced by a group linked to commentator Cenk Uygur, showed shoppers blaming U.S. support for Israel for high food prices. Stevens called the ad antisemitic and demanded he denounce it. El-Sayed said he was not connected to the spot and disagreed with it, and Uygur defended it as a critique of Israel rather than of Jews. Their exchanges escalated until El-Sayed's campaign disinvited Stevens from a unity event, and she then made her last-minute move.
The response was harsh. Commentators Hasan Piker and Mehdi Hasan called her self-interested, dishonest, and a traitor, with Hasan pointing out that she had told a newspaper days earlier she was backing El-Sayed. Former DNC official David Hogg urged Democrats to denounce her, and former Obama aides criticized the reversal as incoherent. Stevens, for her part, says she remains a proud Democrat. The Republican National Committee welcomed her, saying Democrats who feel abandoned have a home with Rogers.
When a reporter pressed her on how she could support a candidate whose views opposed hers, Stevens answered simply that nothing is perfect. A heckler then called her a traitor and the exchange ended. El-Sayed had not yet responded to a request for comment. The open question now is whether Democratic leaders rally behind him, distance themselves from Stevens, or stay silent as the contest enters its final stretch.
On Sunday, within hours of Rep. Haley Stevens announcing she would endorse Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race, some of the most prominent voices on the American left turned on her. The target of their anger was a Democrat who had narrowly lost the party's primary to Abdul El-Sayed, and who now was backing the man she had once said must be defeated.
The path to the endorsement ran through a dispute over antisemitism. Stevens had criticized El-Sayed for not condemning what she described as overt antisemitism among some of his supporters. The tension sharpened after Rebellion PAC, founded by The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, ran an ad supporting El-Sayed that showed grocery shoppers blaming U.S. military support for Israel for high food prices. Stevens called the ad antisemitic and demanded that El-Sayed condemn it.
El-Sayed's campaign said it had no affiliation with the ad, and he said he disagreed with its contents. At a campaign press gaggle on Saturday, he said: "You guys love to play the condemn game," adding that the ad was not made by him. Uygur, for his part, defended the spot before the endorsement, rejecting the claim that it blamed Jewish people for grocery prices. He said it concerned Israel and accused reporters of misrepresenting it.
After more exchanges between Stevens and El-Sayed, his campaign disinvited her from an event meant to show party unity in the race. Then came her last-minute decision to endorse Rogers.
The reaction was fierce. Streamer Hasan Piker wrote on X that Stevens is not the spokesperson for Democrats, Jewish people or Black people, called her a self-interested striver "weirdly obsessed with israel," and said she had been paid handsomely for it. Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo News, called her "disturbed, deranged, dishonest," noting that less than 48 hours earlier she had told the New York Times she was backing El-Sayed. He called her a "complete traitor" put forward by the Democratic establishment, said "Islamophobia" was at the core of her endorsement, and wrote, "She's evil." Hasan also agreed with a post by Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen accusing Stevens of being used as a tool for racism and religious bigotry.
Former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg urged Democrats who had supported her to denounce her "as the Republican she is" and apologize. Stevens has said she remains a proud Democrat. Uygur said her only source of power is "the Israeli lobby" and that she has "just AIPAC money." Former Obama aides and Pod Save America co-hosts Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor also criticized her. Lovett wrote that she had endorsed and unendorsed El-Sayed repeatedly and called the reversal an "incoherent disgrace." Vietor said she had demanded El-Sayed denounce an ad he wasn't associated with, yet was now endorsing a man who had called El-Sayed a terrorist.
The Republican National Committee welcomed the move. Spokesman Hunter Lovell, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said Stevens knows El-Sayed better than anyone and that Democrats who feel abandoned have a home with Rogers, whom he described as building a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans.
Journalist Sam Robinson asked Stevens on Sunday how she could back a candidate whose positions opposed hers. "Nothing is perfect," she said. A heckler then interrupted, calling her a traitor, and the exchange ended. Fox News Digital reported that her fiancé, Jason Turkish, and former campaign chairman David Kramer had already decided to vote for Rogers. El-Sayed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What to watch now is whether Democratic leaders rally around El-Sayed, distance themselves from Stevens, or stay quiet as the Michigan race, which is critical to control of the Senate, enters its final stretch.
Citazioni salienti
You guys love to play the condemn game. I've already been clear that that ad was not made by me, and I do not agree with the contents of that ad.— Abdul El-Sayed, campaign press gaggle Saturday
If you supported Haley Stevens now is your time to speak out, denounce her as the Republican she is and apologize for supporting a traitor.— David Hogg, former DNC Vice Chair
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