I'D LIKE A DEEP DIVE ON HOW HALEY STEVENS DECIDED TO SHIV ABDUL EL-SAYED (updated)

The most curious thing about Haley Stevens's decision to shiv Abdul El-Sayed in the last week of the Michigan Senate campaign has nothing to do with Muslims, Jews, or Israel. It's this:

[In September,] Stevens appeared on TMZ Live and [fiancé Jason] Turkish tagged along. Stevens was visibly excited during the segment, at one point turning to hosts Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere and saying,

“Isn’t he cute,” she shared.

“His name is Jason and he loves me to pieces,” she added.

Haley Stevens ran unsuccessfully for Senate this year, giving up her House seat in order to do so. She's 43 years old, and it's perfectly understandable that she's trying to set up a second act for herself. But she a local pol. She didn't have much of a national profile in September, when this appearance took place. Why was she being interviewed on TMZ Live, which is mostly an entertainment gossip show but also dabbles in politics?

I assume someone at TMZ wanted to help her do a soft launch of her post-congressional career. It's odd to me that the boyfriend was there -- he had no public profile at the time -- but there he was.

And there he was again this week, on multiple platforms, including TMZ again.

Turkish, who announced his engagement to Stevens less than three months ago, has spent the past several days loudly condemning El-Sayed on every platform available to him, while announcing that he plans to vote for Rogers due to El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel.

Turkish, a Democratic donor living in Michigan who has also given to GOP candidates, attended a campaign event for Rogers Wednesday night. While there, he called El-Sayed antisemitic. Then, as Stevens sat for an interview with the New York Times on Friday, Turkish went on TMZ and, on his fiancée’s behalf, said “I don’t think she’s going to be supporting Abdul El-Sayed very much longer.”

Stevens, however, has repeatedly insisted she is still supporting El-Sayed.

Thiks is from a Mother Jones story with the headline "Haley Stevens’ Fiancé Seems Dedicated to Ruining Her Career" -- but I strongly doubt that he's going rogue in defiance of Stevens's wishes.

After Abdul El-Sayed beat her in the primary, I think Stevens agreed to endorse him under intense pressure from the party, and she's been chafing ever since. I think she feels locked into the commitment she made to the party when she endorsed El-Sayed, and Turkish's endorsement of Rogers is her way of stabbing El-Sayed in the back without actually withdrawing her endorsement.

This has the earmarks of an operation cooked up in cooperation with the Republican Party and its media wing. You'll never guess where else Turkish appeared in recent days:

The fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) joined Fox News on Saturday to trash Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as antisemitic just days before the midterm elections.

Jason Turkish joined Griff Jenkins on Fox & Friends Weekend to discuss his headline-grabbing endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race....

Turkish ... described himself as a “lifelong Democrat” ...

There's the tell. This is a GOP op. There's very little that the Republican Party and the right-wing media love more than a person who can spew GOP talking points while saying, I'm a lifelong Democrat.

I don't think this is fake outrage on the part of Stevens and Turkish. But I think the specifics of the rollout are being coordinated with the GOP and the Rogers campaign. It seems obvious to me that Stevens has decided that her future is as a Democratic apostate. And I guess you can't blame her. There always a place in the right-wing media-sphere for anyone who decides to go this route.

*****

UPDATE: OMG.

Rep. Haley Stevens ... attended church services Sunday morning with Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers — a highly unusual move for a sitting Democrat in the waning days of a marquee race for a seat her party is fighting to hold.

Stevens and Rogers were seen separately entering Perfecting Church, a prominent Black church in the city.

Just admit it: You support Rogers. You voted for Rogers. You want El-Sayed to lose. Have the moral integrity to tell the truth.

*****

UPDATE: So she's officially endorsed Mike Rogers.

Haley Stevens says she is endorsing Mike Rogers for the U.S. Senate

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— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) November 1, 2026 at 12:35 PM

Note that she still describes herself as "a proud Democrat." So now we know: She clearly intends to continue bullshitting us that way, probably for years to come, while parroting GOP talking points. I bet she'll even call herself "a proud Democrat" in her inevitable 2028 Republican convention speech.