READ IT: Haley Stevens Responds Directly To Dems Angry About Her Rogers Endorsement
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“Loyalty to a party should never require abandoning your values or judgment.”
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Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens fired back at Democrats furious over her endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in a statement posted just hours before midnight heading into Election Day, with control of Congress on the line. Stevens said Abdul El-Sayed shut her out and party leaders questioned her motives instead of asking one key question: Why could a lifelong Democrat no longer support their Senate nominee? Read her full statement below.
My decision to withdraw my endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed and support Mike Rogers has angered many Democrats. I understand why. But it was not impulsive, and it was not made for me by anyone else. It was a decision of conscience.
I am a proud Democrat and believe in a woman’s right to choose, in organized labor, in opportunity for working families, and in making government work for ordinary people. None of that has changed. I believe that no one making under $70,000 should pay any Federal Income Tax. We should have fixed rate utility bills. And every person in this country gets healthcare.
After losing the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, I did what I believed was right. Despite deep disappointment – mine and that of the thousands of people who worked so hard for our campaign – I endorsed Abdul. I put the party first and hoped we could move forward together.
Instead, I was shut out. The endorsement was welcomed; the people behind it seemed to be forgotten. There was little effort to listen to the voters who supported me or bridge the real disagreements our primary had exposed.
I was prepared to accept that. I had work to do serving Michigan, and I didn’t need a role in anyone else’s campaign.
Then came the ads.
One, from a group supporting Abdul, tied the cost of groceries to America’s support for Israel. Another, from Abdul’s own campaign, featured Tucker Carlson, whose racist and anti-Black rhetoric has no place in a Democratic campaign. I heard directly from Black voters, Jewish voters, and others about how deeply these messages hurt. They deserved to be heard, not dismissed.
Reasonable people can disagree about Israel, Gaza, and American foreign policy. But blaming Israel for the price of eggs and elevating Tucker Carlson are not the way to build trust or bring people together.
Abdul chose to campaign alongside Hasan Piker, whose rhetoric about Jewish Americans has been deeply disturbing. He took Piker to college campuses to tell our youth that Iran is not our enemy. Just days ago, Piker compared efforts to win over Jewish voters in West Bloomfield to canvassing a KKK neighborhood. Abdul condemned those remarks, but his decision to embrace Piker in the first place raised serious questions about his judgment and his ability to bring people together.
I asked Abdul to reject that rhetoric clearly. I wasn’t asking him to change his platform. I was offering him an opportunity to reassure people, reject division, and demonstrate the leadership required of a United States Senator.
He ultimately said he disagreed with the outside ad. I welcomed that. But by then, I had also been told I was no longer welcome at his campaign events.
That experience raised a bigger question. If a candidate cannot make room for people who supported his primary opponent, how will he represent an entire state filled with people who disagree with him?
Some critics have also dragged my fiancé into this, suggesting he or others must have made my decision for me.
Think about what that says. A woman can serve in Congress, run statewide, and fight for her convictions, and still be told that when she makes a choice people dislike, someone else must be pulling the strings.
That is sexism dressed up as political analysis. My fiancé has his own views. I have mine. I made this decision, and I am proud of it. Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion.
Endorsing a Republican is no small thing. Mike Rogers and I disagree on many things. But Michigan has to elect a senator and there is no neutral choice that absolves me of responsibility. Once I concluded that Abdul El-Sayed is not fit to serve in the United States Senate, I had to confront who should.
I chose Mike Rogers, with the hope that he can serve in the tradition of John McCain: a senator willing to put country before party and stand up to his own side when conscience requires it.
What has troubled me almost as much as this experience is my party’s reaction.
Instead of asking why a lifelong Democrat reached this point, some leaders rushed to condemn me, question my motives, and push me out.
That response reveals something deeply troubling about what is missing in today’s Democratic Party.
We cannot preach inclusion while punishing dissent. We cannot promise to heal a divided country if we cannot tolerate disagreement among ourselves. And we cannot build a lasting majority by making Americans feel their concerns are unwelcome.
Loyalty to a party should never require abandoning your values or judgment.
I respect Democrats who disagree with my decision and ask for the same respect in return.
I still believe in the promise of the Democratic Party. But fulfilling that promise will require something more than loyalty tests and demands for blind obedience.
It will require true leadership. Leaders who listen, even when it is uncomfortable. Leaders who stand against hatred without calculating the political cost. Leaders who understand that bringing people together is more important than forcing them into line.
There is healing to be done in Michigan, in our party, and in our country.
We can build a stronger, more welcoming, more courageous Democratic Party.
And I plan to help lead that effort.
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Fibis
I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.
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