Who is Jason Turkish? Haley Stevens’ fiancé backs Mike Rogers, then the Democrat takes a dramatic U-turn, backs Republican candidate

Michigan’s US Senate race took an unexpected turn. As Jason Turkish, the fiancé of Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, announced he would vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Turkish said that El-Sayed’s comments on Israel and Jewish safety. Stevens initially maintained that she would support her party’s nominee, but on November 1, she also endorsed Rogers just before Election Day.

Why did Turkish decide to vote for Republican Mike Rogers?

Turkish told Jewish Insider that he decided to support Rogers after the first general-election debate, during which El-Sayed compared Israel’s threat to the United States with that posed by Iran. Turkish called El-Sayed’s remarks “100% disqualifying” for a US senator.

In an interview with The Detroit News, Turkish also said El-Sayed’s rhetoric had made Jewish people feel less safe. “Every time he talks about genocide (in Gaza), Jews get death threats,” Turkish said. El-Sayed has defended his criticism of Israel as directed at the Israeli government and its actions.


Also Read: Why did Democrat Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race just days before Election Day?

Turkish also criticised an advertisement from an outside political group supporting El-Sayed. The ad linked US financial support for Israel to high grocery prices. He called on El-Sayed to publicly reject the ad. He argued that it unfairly connected Israel to Americans’ economic struggles.

El-Sayed said, as per the Spectrum Local News, “I’ve already made it clear that that ad was not made by me, and I do not agree with the contents of that ad.”

Turkish described his decision as putting country before party. He also said he continued to support Democrats in other races, making his choice for the Senate contest an exception rather than a rejection of the entire party.

How did Haley Stevens initially respond to her fiancé’s decision?

Stevens had lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed on August 4, 2026, but initially assured to support him in the general election. Even after Turkish announced he would vote for Rogers, Stevens said she still wanted El-Sayed to win.

In an interview with CNN on October 28, she described their household as politically divided. She also urged El-Sayed to condemn the outside group’s advertisement and remove campaign messaging featuring conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. Stevens argued that a clearer response could reassure undecided voters, including Jewish and Black voters.

Also Read: US midterm elections 2026: Key battleground states that may decide Senate, US House of Representatives for Donald Trump, Republican Party, Democratic Party

As per the Washington Post, the disagreement was not new. During the primary, Stevens and El-Sayed clashed over US support for Israel and the war in Gaza. The primary also exposed divisions between Stevens’s more centrist politics and El-Sayed’s progressive platform.

According to The Washington Post, Stevens had continued to say she would vote for El-Sayed after Turkish’s announcement, even as tensions between her and the nominee grew.

Stevens publicly demanded that El-Sayed condemn the disputed advertisement and address her concerns about other campaign messaging. El-Sayed’s team, in turn, asked her not to attend campaign events for the remainder of the election, according to The Washington Post.

A planned appearance with El-Sayed and Democratic Rep. James Clyburn at a Detroit church was intended to signal party unity. Instead, Stevens attended a different church service with Rogers on November 1 and announced her endorsement of the Republican.

The Washington Post reported that Stevens had told people close to her she had no plans to endorse Rogers. Her decision therefore surprised Democratic leaders, some of her staff and even Rogers’s campaign.

Stevens later told Politico that she made the decision after being excluded from El-Sayed’s campaign events. After her endorsement, several members of her congressional staff also resigned in protest, according to the Associated Press.

Did Turkish change his fiancée’s mind?

Turkish backed Rogers before Stevens did, and the two shared concerns about El-Sayed’s comments on Israel and the disputed advertisement. The timing has raised questions about whether Turkish influenced Stevens’s decision.

The Washington Post reported, citing a friend of Stevens, that Turkish had been urging her to support Rogers. The report also detailed Stevens’s assurances to Democratic allies that she would not endorse the Republican, followed by her sudden reversal. Stevens said she changed her position after El-Sayed’s campaign excluded her from its remaining events. The dispute had also been building for months over policy differences, the primary campaign and the handling of the advertisements.

Who is Jason Turkish?

Jason Turkish is a Michigan attorney and president and managing partner of Nyman Turkish PC, a Southfield law firm. Being a native of Huntington Woods near Detroit, he graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his law degree from Northwestern University.

Turkish is Jewish and has worked on disability rights issues. His work includes efforts to improve absentee voting access for blind voters in Michigan and a settlement that led to changes in the Law School Admission Council’s admissions test.