Alex Ip 葉清霖 ◎ @alexip718.com
Ray Wert, the Jewish husband of Mallory McMorrow, who finished third in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary behind Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens, goes guns blazing against Stevens after she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers:
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Ray Wert @raywert
I've known Haley Stevens for a long time. Until now, she has always had staff to protect her, prop her up, and keep her safe from her own irrational behavior. What we're seeing now? This is just raw, unfiltered Haley.
The Haley who flip-flops and goes from thought to thought without rhyme or reason. The Haley that calls you at 3 AM to yell at you, and then calls you back at 5 AM oblivious to the fact that she even spoke with you at 3 AM. The Haley who bends to the last and loudest voice that tells her something.
More often than not that last voice is now her fiancé. And as you can see by what one of her former staff people posted earlier here on X, that appears to potentially be a really troubling relationship.
Up until this point, other than a joke I made on X a few days ago, I wasn't going to say anything public about Haley Stevens or how she has comported herself since the primary. It not only wasn't appropriate, I would never, ever want anyone to think I was speaking for or on behalf of my wife. But Haley's erratic choices mean I can no longer be silent about my interactions with her since the primary ended.

I approached Haley in the middle of September about putting her name to an Op-Ed attacking Mike Rogers for his unwillingness to denounce the antisemitic members of his own team, the $10 million in support he's received from Christian nationalist Tim Dunn, and his steadfast opposition to a woman's right to choose. The goal of the Op-Ed was to remind members of the Jewish community that Mike Rogers doesn't align with our values. The proposed Op-Ed never mentioned Abdul. The only thing it asked for was to not vote for Mike Rogers.
Initially she was very interested in it.
Then she wasn't.
Then she was again.
Then she wasn't.
She never signed it.
Literally the bare minimum - attack MAGA Mike Rogers, the guy who
would have been running against you had you won the primary. And that was over a month ago. This is nothing new. This is just who Haley is. By the way, here's the Op-Ed that she wouldn't let me publish.
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FROM THE DESK OF
Haley Stevens
I'm a Democrat. I always have been. After I was heckled with horrifically antisemitic language at my own party's convention in April, I called it out, because I believe that when antisemitism rears its disgusting head, you say something. Even when especially when the people doing it are supposed to be on your side.
Which is exactly why I can't stay quiet about Mike Rogers. I can't hold one standard for Democrats and a softer one for Republicans and still claim to have a standard at all.
Let's start with the money. The largest donor to one of the first super PACs backing Mike Rogers' campaign is a Texas oil billionaire named Tim Dunn, who put in $5 million. Dunn is a well-documented financier of Christian nationalist politics. And in 2010 he told Joe Straus, then the Republican Speaker of the Texas House, that Straus was not qualified for the job because he is Jewish. Duan's position, in Straus's telling, was that only Christians should hold leadership positions in that chamber.
Sit with that for a moment. A Jewish Republican, elected by his own colleagues, told to his face that being Jewish disqualified him. That's who wrote the biggest check in this race. Mike Rogers has never publicly said a word about it.
Now let's look at the people working to elect him. On February 25, someone on X asked what should be done about Jews. A college student named Cameron Dundas replied: "Send them to North Korea?" Weeks later, Mike Rogers named him as his campus lead at a Michigan university.
He isn't the only one. Alexander Richmond, the Rogers for Senate campus lead at the University of Michigan, defended participants in the leaked Young Republicans group chat. You may remember that chat. "I love Hitler." Black Americans called "monkeys." Musings about sending political opponents to the gas chambers. Rape described as "epic."
So what did Mike Rogers' campaign say when asked about all of it? "There are a lot of people across the state, with varying viewpoints."
Varying viewpoints. To Hitler? Good freakin' grief. Hating Jews is not one more honest position in a healthy argument.
And did Rogers cut ties with Richmond? Nope! In fact, there's pictures of the two of them tailgating at the Michigan football game two weeks ago.
I am not saying Mike Rogers hates Jews. But when people who hold the Jewish people in contempt attached themselves to his campaign and his money. Mike Rogers made a calculation. He kept the check. He kept the coalition. And he has never answered for it. That is a choice. And it is the choice a senator makes over and over for six years usually when nobody is watching, and always when it costs something.
1 spent four terms representing a district with a large and vibrant Jewish community. I co-chaired the bipartisan Congressional Hostage Task Force. None of that gave me simple answers about solving antisemitism. If anything, it made me more suspicious of people who claim to have them. But it did teach me to notice who flinches when a line gets crossed and who doesn't, and when the oldest hatred showed up in Mike Rogers's coalition, what did he do about it?
Nothing. I'll let you make your own decisions about what to do with that.
Haley ------

Ok, so being erratic is a feature, not a bug.