Michigan votes today in a Senate race shaken by a fight over Israel. Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday, two days before Election Day, withdrawing her support for Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, JNS reports.
Stevens made the announcement in a video recorded from her car. "Hey Michigan, as you may have seen our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Abdul said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away. And he's right. And that's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today," she said, according to Mediaite. In the video she also said, "I do not stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses," JNS reports. Piker is a left-wing streamer whose rhetoric about Israel and Jews has drawn accusations of antisemitism, and he appeared with El-Sayed at campaign events during the Democratic primary, according to JNS. El-Sayed beat Stevens in that primary by a narrow margin, Mediaite reports.
The rift grew last week over an ad by Rebellion PAC, an outside progressive group, that linked U.S. military assistance to Israel with rising grocery prices. JNS reports the ad was produced by Cenk Uygur, co-founder of The Young Turks and Piker's uncle. Stevens had said she would vote for El-Sayed but not campaign for him. On Friday she said she would appear with him at a Detroit church on Sunday, after being told he planned to condemn the ad and apologize for some of his past statements about Israel, JNS reports. Instead, she appeared with Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit.
She is not the only Democrat close to her to break ranks. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat and civil rights attorney, said last week he would vote for Rogers because El-Sayed's rhetoric on Israel had made the Jewish community less safe, JNS reports. David Kramer, a Jewish Democrat who chaired her Senate campaign, has also said he will vote for Rogers.
Rogers represented Michigan in the House for 14 years and rose to chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, JNS reports. Before Congress he served as an Army officer and FBI agent. The Detroit News endorsed him in September. President Trump, who has endorsed Rogers, praised Stevens on Sunday for crossing party lines, calling her decision an act of "bravery" and saying she showed "great and almost unprecedented loyalty" to the people of Michigan, JNS reports.
