Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) dismissed claims that her fiance influenced her last-minute decision to endorse Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, comparing herself to Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who has sparked controversy in recent years for siding with Republicans.
Stevens has been on a press tour since Sunday, when she shocked Democrats and even her staff by showing up at a Detroit church with Rogers and then later officially endorsing the Republican in a video she posted on social media.
The representative later said she switched alliances that morning after the campaign of Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who beat Stevens in the primary, told her to stay away from his campaign events after the two publicly disagreed over some of his political ads.
“Look, it’s just more of the same,” Stevens told conservative pundit Scott Jennings Monday on his show.
“It’s just more of the same of thinking I’m being forced into what my [conscience] is saying. You see a Democrat from Pennsylvania, his name’s a lightning rod in the party, his name’s Fetterman ... they say the same thing about him. They use the ‘C’ word. Mental health. What are we getting at?”
Stevens told Jennings that she “did everything right” following her loss to El-Sayed, including endorsing him. She said endorsing him and then being told to stay away by his campaign “is what happens to women.”
After Stevens’ fiance, Jason Turkish, publicly announced that he would vote for Rogers, Stevens initially said she would still vote for El-Sayed and remain loyal to the Democratic Party, though she criticized ads supporting him that she viewed as antisemitic. But on Sunday morning, she said she couldn’t support her former Democratic opponent because of his connection to left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.
Still, Stevens insisted she was a “very proud Democrat.”
Stevens told Jennings that “a ton of people” are privately thanking her for her decision to endorse Rogers.
“I made a decision. And you know what? I’m hearing from a ton of people. And maybe they don’t want to come forward, but I’m hearing from a ton of people all over who are agreeing and are thanking me for just saying what I feel,” Stevens said.