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Jason Turkish, the fiancé of former Democratic Senate hopeful Haley Stevens, revealed Wednesday that he plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate midterm election.
Turkish, who is Jewish and has donated more than $300,000 to Democrats, cited El-Sayed’s inflammatory rhetoric and refusal to say whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the US during a debate with Rogers as reasons why he’s voting Republican in the high-stakes Senate race.
“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, the grandson of Holocaust refugees, said the country’s “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 described his vote for Rogers over El-Sayed — whom his fiancée lost the primary to — 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 that focuses on disability and discrimination claims.
He emphasized that the 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 plans to attend a Rogers campaign event on Wednesday.
His support for the Republican comes after former Stevens campaign chair David Kramer told Jewish Insider Tuesday that he also plans to vote for Rogers.
Turkish and Stevens first met in 2022, through Kramer.
Their relationship blossomed during the congresswoman’s primary battle against El-Sayed.
They announced their engagement less than a month after Stevens’ primary loss.
