Haley Stevens’ mom rips misogynistic trolls who say Jewish fiancé to blame for El-Sayed stunner

HUNTINGTON WOODS, MICH. — She’s Miss Independent.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich). made the decision to buck her party and endorse Republican Mike Rogers independent of her fiancé, the congresswoman’s mother told The Post.

Jewish Democrat and disability rights advocate Jason Turkish was first to denounce Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, saying his rhetoric puts the safety of Jews at risk. Stevens had backed El-Sayed up until Sunday when she made the dramatic endorsement outside a Detroit church.

Stevens announced her engagement to Turkish following her Michigan Senate primary loss to Abdul El-Sayed. Office of Rep. Haley Stevens

Reached at Turkish’s home on Monday, Stevens’ mom denied conspiracy theories that her daughter was “brainwashed” by her soon-to-be husband.

“We’re not the kind of women to be brainwashed,” Maria Marcotte told a Post reporter who knocked on the door.

Turkish declined to be interviewed but Maracotte defended Stevens, saying no one pressured her daughter into anything.

She blasted such talk as “misogyny.”

Former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, a Democrat, told a local news outlet that Stevens “snapped.”

He told Gongwer News Service about a dinner he had with Stevens and Turkish, who is a descendent of Holocaust survivors, a few days before her announcement, where he claimed Turkish was pressuring Stevens to swap sides. El-Sayed has taken strong positions against Israel.

Haley Stevens with mom Maria Marcotte. Maria Marcotte / Facebook

“He was working her over,” Blanchard said of Turkish’s behavior.

“The way he was saying it was, ‘Everyone is disappointed in you, they did everything they could to help you and then immediately after you lose the primary, you endorsed him,’” Blanchard said.

Stevens said her decision was based partly on El-Sayed’s obsession with Israel.

Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a campaign rally in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 2, 2026. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
The New York Post front page from Nov. 2, 2026.

“It was obsessive, obsessive, obsessive,” Stevens told the Free Press in an interview published Monday.

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