Haley Stevens Did the Right Thing

Haley Stevens did the right thing, choosing decency over party, when she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the Senate over Democrat Abdulrahman El-Sayed, but a whole bunch of Democrats are furious with her, which means we should be furious with them. More on the effect of her decision can be found here: “Democratic Party Leaders Condemn Stevens After Shock Mike Rogers Endorsement,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, November 2, 2026:

Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-Mich.) decision to endorse Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party, creating an extraordinary political controversy just days before Election Day.

Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August, had initially pledged to support her former opponent. But that commitment collapsed following a dispute over an advertisement from progressive outside group Rebellion PAC that blamed American support for Israel for rising grocery prices facing Michigan families.

The advertisement argued that money spent supporting Israel was money unavailable to American families, invoking the war in Gaza as an explanation for domestic economic pressures. The advertisement, which was not sanctioned by the El-Sayed campaign, claimed that Michigan families have to set aside money in order for the US government to fund Israel’s effort to “kill” Palestinians.

The purest form of antisemitism: blame the Jews for everything, and that includes the rise in grocery prices. How does that figure? Well, if America gives money to Israel to “kill Palestinians,” then according to the ad, Washington has less to spend on its own people, now suffering from high grocery prices. Of course, that could also be said about the American aid that is given to fifty other countries, including a dozen Muslim states, beginning with Egypt and Jordan. But only the aid given to Israel is to be deplored.

Stevens found the messaging unacceptable, demanding that El-Sayed explicitly condemn the advertisement and distance himself from its rhetoric.

Although El-Sayed subsequently disavowed the advertisement, arguing that it was not produced by his campaign, relations between the two deteriorated further. Stevens’s repeated public criticisms of El-Sayed in the closing days of the general election campaign sparked backlash from many Democrats, with several accusing Haley of demoralizing the Democratic base and sabotaging El-Sayed….

Isn’t it El-Sayed who, by his repeated unhinged attacks on Israel, the one who has demoralized all those Democrats who have managed to remain steadfast in their support of the Jewish state? And note that while El-Sayed said the offending advertisement did not come from his campaign, he did not denounce it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who originally recruited Stevens to run for Senate, condemned Stevens’ decision as a betrayal.

“This is a despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens. Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed,” Schumer wrote on X/Twitter….

No, Schumer has it backwards. It is those Democrats, including Schumer himself, who continue to support the virulent antisemite El-Sayed, who are the ones guilty of a “despicable betrayal” of an ally, and of a longstanding Democratic commitment to that ally.

The controversy also raises questions about El-Sayed’s broader political coalition, including his associations with controversial political streamer Hasan Piker, whose comments about Israel and Jewish people have attracted considerable criticism.

It’s not just Hasan Piker’s comments about Israel and Jews that have been beyond the pale. He has, of course, accused Israel of “genocide,” and said that the Jewish state had no right to exist, but what should really infuriate voters is his remark that “America deserved 9/11,” which did not stop El-Sayed from happily campaigning with him. And there is El-Sayed’s own remark about Ayman Mohamed Ghazali’s attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, where he appeared to sympathize with the terrorist by saying “hurt people hurt people.” This was a reference to Ghazali’s Hezbollah relative whom the IDF had killed.

For pro-Israel Democrats, the question is increasingly whether their party is willing to confront rhetoric that alienates Jewish Americans or whether maintaining progressive unity has become the overriding priority.

El-Sayed’s rhetoric, or that of his associates such as Hasan Piker, has not enraged only Jewish Americans.

Haley Stevens may have made herself a pariah in some Democratic party circles, but she’s a hero in others. Not everyone in the Democratic Party is ready to jump on board the anti-Israel juggernaut, or to surrender the party of Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey to the likes of Zohran Mamdani and Ilhan Omar. She may stay in the party and fight, like Senator John Fetterman and Congressman Richie Torres, against the political madness that so many Democrats are now exhibiting, or she may decide to join the Republican Party, where she would likely be warmly welcomed. She is not done with politics yet.