President Donald Trump urged Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) to consider joining the Republican Party after she endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) for Michigan’s open Senate seat instead of backing fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
Speaking to supporters at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, Trump applauded Stevens for expressing views he said few people are willing to voice and labeled El-Sayed a “jihadist.”
“I’m happy with what she did. She was very brave in doing it. So, I don’t know Haley — I’ve never met Haley — but Haley said what few people are willing to say,” Trump told the crowd. “I’d love her to join the Republican Party, actually. I think that could happen.”
Trump went on to say that Stevens had demonstrated “great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the great people of Michigan” before suggesting that El-Sayed posed a terrorist threat.
“That’s another important election for us. We don’t want to have a jihadist […] Can you imagine, we’ll have to put him through metal detectors […] We’ll have 100 senators, and most of them they can go direct — we’re going to have to get a special metal detector for Abdul,” Trump said. “A party that hates America cannot be allowed to lead the people who built America,” he added.
Trump’s invitation came after he praised Stevens in a Truth Social post earlier Sunday, describing her as a “Highly Respected Democrat” with support throughout Michigan, “especially our African American and Jewish populations.”
“It’s a thing called bravery, and few people have it like just displayed by Congresswoman Haley Stevens!” Trump wrote.
Stevens surprised Democrats and Republicans on Sunday morning when she withdrew her August endorsement of El-Sayed and told Michigan voters that she did not belong on his campaign:
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. That’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United State Senate today. I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign. I do not stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses. A dear friend of mine earlier today was saying that education is on the ballot and she is absolutely right. What our students see, what our children see, and who we are as Michiganders is not hate. And is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now.
Relations between Stevens and El-Sayed deteriorated after their closely contested primary, with El-Sayed’s campaign reportedly asking Stevens to stay away from his remaining events. The request followed her call for him to “denounce antisemitic hate” after he released an ad criticizing the use of tax dollars to support Israel.
Stevens’ fiancé, who is Jewish, also recently said he plans to vote for Rogers.
