‘He would wind her up’: Democratic anger at Haley Stevens’ fiancé boils over after her endorsement reversal

Late last fall, Haley Stevens decided to get off social media.

The Michigan congresswoman told staffers working on her Democratic Senate campaign to send her important news — but she didn’t need to be distracted by mean-spirited comments about her appearance or mannerisms.

But Jason Turkish, a lawyer and donor who staffers at the time thought was an overly involved friend, didn’t get the message.

According to three people who worked on her campaign, Turkish — who became Stevens’ fiancé this spring — frequently sent Stevens comments about her that he’d found on social media. Posts mocking her looks, her speaking cadence, her positions on issues, including her support for Israel — all of it ended up in Stevens’ text messages, those people said.

“He would wind her up, and then we’d have to wind her down,” one top campaign aide said.

It was one of a number of examples of Turkish’s influence in Stevens’ run for the Senate — a race that ended with her losing the Democratic primary in August by less than a percentage point to progressive Abdul El-Sayed.

Tensions often emerge over political strategy between a candidate’s staff and family members. Those who worked on Stevens’ campaign and in her congressional office largely kept their frustrations with Turkish private.

But Stevens’ decision Sunday to drop her post-primary endorsement of El-Sayed and endorse Republican nominee Mike Rogers — after appearing at a Detroit church with Rogers and Turkish — uncorked simmering Democratic anger at her fiancé, who told reporters he was voting for Rogers days before Stevens did so.

“Jason is vaporizing Haley’s future so that he can be a main character in this moment and it is sad to watch her participate in that,” said Caitlin Legacki, a former Stevens adviser, in a post on X .

Stevens insists that Turkish had nothing to do with her decision to endorse Rogers. In an interview on conservative commentator and CNN senior political contributor Scott Jennings’ radio show Monday, Stevens blamed talk of his influence on misogyny faced by female politicians and candidates.

Rebecca Cook/Reuters

“Any notion that like I was forced into doing, you know, what I did — any notion that I was forced into my decision — is all more of the same,” she said.

Turkish didn’t respond to a request for comment. But speaking to The Free Press after Stevens switched her endorsement, in a joint interview with Stevens at his home, Turkish said anyone suggesting he was controlling her had “obviously never met Haley.”

Still, he noted in a Michigan radio interview last week, before Stevens endorsed Rogers, that he “didn’t hide from her my feelings” about the race.

Stevens accepts that her political career may be over, telling The Free Press, “I’m exiting stage left.” For now, she has been effectively banished from the Michigan Democratic Party, her name erased from its website, and fellow lawmakers in Washington are discussing whether she should be booted from the House Democratic caucus for her final months in office.

Turkish, who is legally blind, is a disability rights lawyer who is president and managing parter at the firm Nyman Turkish, which has an office in Michigan. One of the most notable cases he worked on resulted in the logic games section being removed from the Law School Admission Test in 2024. A legally blind test-taker had argued the section disadvantaged them.

Turkish has been a prolific political donor, making over $200,000 in federal contributions this election cycle. Many of those donations have gone to Michigan Democrats, but he’s also given to Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is a staunch Israel ally, as well as Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another Israel supporter.

In the radio interview, Turkish described himself as a “lifelong Democrat.”

“Democratic politics is how I met the love of my life,” Turkish said. “I’m just not on board this one time.”

Stevens and Turkish became engaged during the Senate primary — over a FaceTime call because she was busy campaigning while traveling back and forth to Washington.

“Haley said to me, ‘You know, I just want to be clear: If we’re getting together, we’re getting married,’” Turkish recalled. “And I said, ‘OK, Haley, will you marry me?’ And she said yes. So that was our very abbreviated engagement story in the midst of a really large United States Senate campaign.”

Stevens’ office announced her engagement to Turkish on August 26, about three weeks after her primary loss to El-Sayed.

A half-dozen sources who worked on Stevens’ Senate campaign and in her congressional office said in interviews that Turkish had poor political instincts and little understanding of how campaigns operate.

Four people involved in her Senate run said Turkish told her staff in the spring that he wanted to take over management of her online fundraising platform. That was motivated, the sources said, by Turkish receiving a fundraising solicitation, which he interpreted as evidence that the campaign was targeting the wrong people since he’d already donated to Stevens. What Turkish didn’t understand, those sources said, was that campaigns routinely solicit contributions from those who have already given.

Another example of Turkish attempting to influence Stevens’ approach to the campaign, those same sources said, came before a debate with El-Sayed. Turkish, who is Jewish, urged Stevens to open the debate with what one source described as an “Aaron Sorkin-style soliloquy” defending Israel — a response to El-Sayed’s sharp criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which spent tens of millions of dollars seeking to bolster Stevens’ primary campaign.

Two sources said Turkish at times accompanied Stevens to Washington as she performed her official House duties, and while there, sometimes sat in on her fundraising calls.

All of the sources involved in her campaign and congressional office told CNN that Turkish would at times berate and belittle staff members. At one point, after Stevens told staffers that she and Turkish were engaged in the spring, the congresswoman and multiple staffers told Turkish that he needed to limit his direct communications to Stevens’ campaign manager and her chief of staff.

He did not do so, those sources said.

One former staffer said he was “extremely overbearing, controlling, arrogant — a misogynistic personality.”

Another said he was an “overbearing presence” in the final stretch of the Senate campaign and has the “worst political instincts on Earth.”

In the wake of Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers, some people who know her well have raised issues with Turkish and his influence over her.

“If this is because of her new relationship … all I can say is that any woman who abandons her friends when a new guy comes along is no friend at all,” former Rep. Susan Wild, a Pennsylvania Democrat, wrote on X .

Jordan Acker, a University of Michigan regent, also took to social media to air his concerns about Turkish, saying he has become “deeply troubled” by Turkish’s behavior around Stevens’ staff and friends.

Former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, a Democrat and friend of Stevens, told Gongwer News Service that Stevens told her she intended to stick with her endorsement of El-Sayed on Friday night at a dinner that included Turkish and Stevens’ mother, retired advertising executive Maria Marcotte.

Blanchard told the Michigan-based news outlet that at the dinner, Turkish was “working her over.”

“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.

He told the news outlet he responded by saying, “Yeah, because she’s a team player. You have to be gracious. Come on.”

Turkish, Blanchard said, responded, “I know, but they’re really disappointed in her.”

Turkish has offered backhanded praise for El-Sayed, a fellow 2007 graduate of the University of Michigan.

“He’s brilliant, he’s eloquent and he’s really good at explaining away a lot of things,” Turkish said. “He is also eloquent enough and linguistically talented enough to simply and unequivocally condemn really hateful things that have come into the discussion in this campaign.”

After announcing his support for Rogers last week, Turkish attended a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Michigan that featured Rogers and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz spoke one-on-one with Turkish at the event and found him to be a “very impressive guy,” the senator later recalled on his podcast.

“He remains a passionate Democrat,” Cruz said. But, Cruz added, Turkish “doesn’t want to see his party corrupted and turn into an Islamist, Jew-hating party.”

Turkish has not been far from Stevens’ side in recent appearances. He joined her in the pew Sunday at a Detroit church where she first appeared with Rogers. And he was standing just offscreen last month when Stevens stopped by TMZ’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

“His name is Jason, ” Stevens said as the camera panned to Turkish, “and he loves me to pieces.”

去年秋末，海莉·史蒂文斯决定退出社交媒体。

这位密歇根州女议员告诉为她民主党参议院竞选工作的工作人员，要及时向她汇报重要消息——但她不需要被关于她的外貌或举止的恶意评论所分散注意力。

但当时工作人员认为律师兼捐赠者杰森·土耳其（Jason Turkish）是一位过于热心的朋友，他并没有收到这个信息。

据三位曾参与史蒂文斯竞选活动的人士透露，土耳其人（今年春天成为史蒂文斯的未婚夫）经常把从社交媒体上找到的关于她的评论发给史蒂文斯。这些人说，这些嘲讽她外貌、说话语调、立场（包括她对以色列的支持）的帖子最终都出现在了史蒂文斯的短信里。

一位竞选团队高级助手说：“他会激怒她，然后我们就得让她冷静下来。”

这是土耳其对史蒂文斯竞选参议员施加影响的众多例子之一——这场竞选最终以她在 8 月份的民主党初选中以不到一个百分点的差距输给进步派人士阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德而告终。

候选人的竞选团队和家人之间常常会因为政治策略而产生矛盾。那些在史蒂文斯竞选团队和国会办公室工作的人，大多都把对土耳其人的不满藏在心里。

但史蒂文斯周日决定放弃对埃尔-赛义德的初选后支持，转而支持共和党候选人迈克·罗杰斯——此前她曾与罗杰斯和土耳其人一起出现在底特律的一座教堂——这激起了民主党人对她未婚夫的长期愤怒，因为她的未婚夫在史蒂文斯做出决定前几天就告诉记者他会投票给罗杰斯。

“杰森正在摧毁海莉的未来，以便他自己能够成为此刻的主角，看着她参与其中令人难过，”前史蒂文斯顾问凯特琳·莱加奇在 X 上发帖说。

史蒂文斯坚称，土耳其人与她决定支持罗杰斯毫无关系。周一，在保守派评论员、CNN资深政治撰稿人斯科特·詹宁斯的广播节目中，史蒂文斯将有关土耳其人影响她竞选的传言归咎于女性政治家和候选人所面临的厌女症。

路透社/Rebecca Cook

“任何认为我是被迫去做我所做的事的想法——任何认为我是被迫做出决定的想法——都和之前的想法一样，”她说。

土耳其方面没有回应置评请求。但在史蒂文斯改变立场后，土耳其在接受《自由报》采访时，与史蒂文斯在其家中共同接受采访时表示，任何暗示他控制海莉的人“显然从未见过海莉”。

不过，在上周史蒂文斯公开支持罗杰斯之前，他在接受密歇根州电台采访时表示，他“没有向她隐瞒我对这场竞选的感受”。

史蒂文斯承认自己的政治生涯可能已经结束，她告诉《自由报》：“我要退出政坛了。”目前，她实际上已被密歇根州民主党开除，她的名字也从该党网站上被删除。华盛顿的议员们正在讨论，在她任期的最后几个月里，是否应该将她逐出众议院民主党党团。

土耳其律师是一位法定盲人，同时也是尼曼·土耳其律师事务所的总裁兼管理合伙人，该事务所位于密歇根州。他经手的最著名的案件之一是促使法学院入学考试（LSAT）于2024年取消了逻辑游戏部分。一位法定盲人考生认为该部分考试对他们不利。

土耳其人是一位慷慨的政治捐款人，在本届选举周期中，他向联邦政府捐款超过20万美元。其中许多捐款流向了密歇根州的民主党人，但他也向宾夕法尼亚州的民主党参议员约翰·费特曼（以色列的坚定盟友）以及缅因州的共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯（另一位以色列支持者）捐款。

在电台采访中，土耳其人称自己是“终身民主党人”。

“我正是通过民主党政治遇到了我生命中的挚爱，”土耳其人说。“只是这一次我不参与其中。”

史蒂文斯和图尔基在参议院初选期间订婚——是通过 FaceTime 通话订婚的，因为她当时正忙于竞选活动，往返于华盛顿之间。

“海莉对我说，‘你知道，我只想说清楚：如果我们在一起，我们就要结婚，’”土耳其回忆道。“我说，‘好的，海莉，你愿意嫁给我吗？’她答应了。这就是我们在美国参议院竞选期间一段非常简短的订婚故事。”

史蒂文斯办公室于 8 月 26 日宣布她与土耳其订婚，大约在她初选输给埃尔-赛义德三周后。

六位曾在史蒂文斯参议员竞选期间以及在她的国会办公室工作过的消息人士在接受采访时表示，土耳其的政治直觉很差，对竞选活动的运作方式知之甚少。

四位参与她参议员竞选的人士透露，今年春天，土耳其曾告诉她的工作人员，他想接管她的在线筹款平台。消息人士称，土耳其此举的动机是收到了一份筹款请求，他认为这表明竞选团队找错了目标人群，因为他已经向史蒂文斯捐款了。这些消息人士表示，土耳其不明白的是，竞选活动通常会向已经捐款的人再次请求捐款。

据上述消息人士透露，土耳其试图影响史蒂文斯竞选策略的另一个例子发生在与埃尔-赛义德的辩论之前。身为犹太人的土耳其敦促史蒂文斯在辩论开始时发表一段被一位消息人士形容为“艾伦·索金式的独白”，为以色列辩护——这是对埃尔-赛义德严厉批评以色列在加沙的行动以及美国以色列公共事务委员会（该委员会花费数千万美元试图支持史蒂文斯的初选）的回应。

两名消息人士称，土耳其人有时会陪同史蒂文斯前往华盛顿履行众议院的正式职责，并且在那里，有时会旁听她的筹款电话会议。

所有与史蒂文斯竞选团队和国会办公室有关的消息人士都告诉CNN，土耳其有时会斥责和贬低工作人员。有一次，在史蒂文斯告诉工作人员她和土耳其订婚后（今年春天），这位女议员和多名工作人员告诉土耳其，他需要将直接沟通对象限制在史蒂文斯的竞选经理和幕僚长。

消息人士称，他并没有这样做。

一位前员工表示，他“极其专横跋扈、控制欲强、傲慢自大——而且有厌女倾向”。

另一位人士表示，他在参议院竞选的最后阶段表现得“专横跋扈”，并且拥有“地球上最糟糕的政治直觉”。

在史蒂文斯公开支持罗杰斯之后，一些熟悉罗杰斯的人对土耳其及其对罗杰斯的影响提出了质疑。

“如果这是因为她有了新恋情……我只能说，任何女人如果因为有了新男友就抛弃朋友，那她根本就不是朋友，”宾夕法尼亚州民主党前众议员苏珊·怀尔德在 X 上写道。

密歇根大学理事乔丹·阿克尔也在社交媒体上表达了他对土耳其人的担忧，称土耳其人在史蒂文斯的工作人员和朋友面前的行为让他“深感不安”。

前密歇根州州长、民主党人吉姆·布兰查德（Jim Blanchard）是史蒂文斯的朋友，他告诉 Gongwer 新闻社，史蒂文斯周五晚上在一次晚宴上告诉她，她打算继续支持埃尔-赛义德。出席晚宴的还有土耳其人和史蒂文斯的母亲、退休广告主管玛丽亚·马科特（Maria Marcotte）。

布兰查德告诉密歇根州的一家新闻媒体，在晚宴上，土耳其人“对她百般讨好”。

布兰查德说：“他当时的意思是，‘每个人都对你感到失望，他们尽一切努力帮助你，结果你在初选失败后立刻就支持了他。’”

他告诉媒体，他当时的回应是：“是啊，因为她很有团队精神。你得表现得宽容一些。拜托。”

布兰查德说，土耳其人回应道：“我知道，但他们对她真的很失望。”

土耳其方面对埃尔-赛义德（El-Sayed）给予了含沙射影的赞扬，埃尔-赛义德也是2007年密歇根大学的毕业生。

“他才华横溢，口才极佳，而且非常擅长为很多事情辩解，”土耳其人说。“他也有足够的口才和语言天赋，能够简洁明了、毫不含糊地谴责这次竞选活动中出现的那些真正令人憎恶的言论。”

上周宣布支持罗杰斯后，图尔基出席了在密歇根州举行的共和党犹太联盟活动，罗杰斯和德克萨斯州参议员特德·克鲁兹也出席了该活动。克鲁兹在活动中与图尔基进行了单独交谈，并认为他“非常令人印象深刻”，这位参议员后来在他的播客节目中回忆道。

克鲁兹说：“他仍然是一位充满热情的民主党人。” 但克鲁兹补充道，图尔基“不希望看到他的政党腐败，变成一个伊斯兰主义、仇视犹太人的政党。”

最近几次公开露面，图尔基都一直陪伴在史蒂文斯身边。上周日，在底特律的一座教堂，他陪同史蒂文斯坐在长椅上，而史蒂文斯正是和罗杰斯首次一同出现在教堂里。上个月，当史蒂文斯造访TMZ位于洛杉矶的总部时，图尔基也站在镜头外不远处。

“他的名字叫杰森，”史蒂文斯说着，镜头转向了土耳其人，“他非常爱我。”