On Thursday’s edition of CBS’s “The Takeout,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) discussed throwing her support behind Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and responded to a question on her prior comments that he doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist by saying that “I don’t speak for Abdul,” and “I stand by what I had to say, to be honest with you, and I believe Abdul heard me.”
Host and CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett asked, “[D]uring the primary, some things did come up that really cut very close to voters in Michigan. One of them is what happened in March 2026, when a truck loaded with gasoline plowed into the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township. And you told my Ed O’Keefe — my colleague Ed O’Keefe, that Abdul El-Sayed’s reaction to that was problematic for you. It was problematic for a lot of Michiganders. And you said he doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist. Those seem to me, Haley Stevens, to cut very close to the bone. They’re not just typical political conversation issues. Have you resolved where Abdul El-Sayed stands on those issues? And when he said, as he did yesterday, that his priority for Jewish Michiganders is just as much as it is to protect his own children, do you believe him?”
Stevens answered, “Well, look, I don’t speak for Abdul, but I think he knows where I stood on that issue and where I continue to stand. I’m very focused on rebuilding the temple, where many of my friends have their precious children in day school. That was in my congressional district. It remains a serious matter. And I’m going to make sure that the voices and the folks who have been impacted all across Oakland County by that temple bombing and the voices of our Jewish community are heard, and I’m going to do that in the way that my involvement and participation in the American political process allows. Look, let’s be really clear, cause you’re relitigating a primary that’s over, it’s over. I said what I had to say, and I’ll — I stand by what I had to say, to be honest with you, and I believe Abdul heard me. But the deal is is that no American is my enemy. No Republican is my enemy. No Democrat is my enemy. We’ve got to cut this stuff out. We’ve got to start working together. We’ve got to start looking at this country as this beautiful, free place that we love. My views are going to continue to be on display. I’m going to continue to be in this party, speaking out against political violence, speaking out against antisemitic violence, and all forms of political violence and hate, absolutely. And, in the meantime, the competition’s still rolling. I think you guys in the media are going to be coming out to Michigan. This will be exciting. We know you love our state. That’s a good thing. Come and go to our small businesses. We need you there when you’re in town. But we’re going to do something special. This was a special, historic primary. We all know it. Everyone was calling it out, one way or another, that there was going to be a 15-point loss, and that wasn’t the deal. And that’s okay, that these guys had it wrong. And we just showed them the Michigan way, and that’s what we’re going to show you in November when we beat Mike Rogers.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
