Jason Turkish, the fiancé of former Democratic Senate candidate Haley Stevens, said Wednesday that he plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate midterm election.
Turkish, who is Jewish and has donated more than $300,000 to Democratic candidates, pointed to what he called El-Sayed’s inflammatory rhetoric and the Democrat’s refusal during a debate with Rogers to say whether Iran or Israel presents a greater threat to the United States.
“I’ve just seen an escalation in [El-Sayed’s] rhetoric since the primary, and it makes folks unsafe,” Turkish told the Detroit News. “Every time he talks about genocide, Jews get death threats.”
Turkish, whose grandparents were Holocaust refugees, said the country has “never seen a candidate for US Senate act so recklessly toward the safety of Jews in the community as we have seen from Abdul.”
He characterized his decision to support Rogers over El-Sayed — the candidate who defeated his fiancée in the Democratic primary — as “putting country before party.”
Asked about Turkish’s announcement, El-Sayed told reporters: “To me, this election is about control of the United States Senate. It’s about putting a check on Donald Trump. It’s about addressing his effort to try and take away everything from religious freedom to our voting rights to union rights to health care and the big ugly bill.”
“So if folks see another issue that is more important to them and decide that their disagreement with me on that is bigger than their agreement with me on all these other things, that is their choice.”
“We feel really strong about our ability to bring people together,” he added. “There are always going to be some folks who have different opinions, and they’re welcome to that. That’s the beauty of democracy.”
Turkish, who is legally blind, is the managing partner of Nyman Turkish PC, a law firm specializing in disability and discrimination claims.
He stressed that his decision to vote for Rogers was not made lightly.
“It’s not easy. I’m a lawyer. I’m a civil rights attorney. I care a great deal about our courts. I care about the federal judiciary,” Turkish said. “This is not an easy decision for me as an individual voter, but I’ve seen what’s happened, and it’s just gotten so much worse.”
Turkish said he plans to attend a Rogers campaign event on Wednesday.
His endorsement of the Republican comes after former Stevens campaign chairman David Kramer told Jewish Insider on Tuesday that he also plans to vote for Rogers.
Turkish and Stevens first met in 2022 through Kramer.
Their relationship developed during the congresswoman’s primary contest against El-Sayed.
They announced their engagement less than a month after Stevens lost the primary.
