Haley Stevens Gives Tepid Endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed on CNN — Calls Out His Israel-Iran Comments

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) delivered a tepid endorsement during a Sunday interview on CNN when she was asked about Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D).

Stevens would only go as far as saying she was on the same Democratic “team” as El-Sayed, who she lost to in Michigan’s Democratic primary back in August, and wouldn’t bring him up by name.

But she did call him out for a few blunders she thinks he has made, like his unwillingness to deliver a speech to the “Black community.” Stevens said it would have been a great way to recognize “some of the pain, some of the struggles, [and] the things that people are going through.”

She then lamented that “didn’t happen.”

State of the Union host Dana Bash sensed Stevens wasn’t loving El-Sayed’s campaign and asked, “you’re still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed?”

“Look, I’m on the Democratic ticket, you know,” Stevens answered. “I can’t say that I agree with everything that’s gone on.”

In particular, she pointed to El-Sayed’s first debate with Republican opponent Mike Rogers. Stevens said the focus should have been on President Donald Trump, but El-Sayed seemed more concerned about Israel. He was asked during the debate which country is a bigger threat to the U.S., Israel or Iran, and he responded by saying it was a “ridiculous” question.

“I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way,” El-Sayed continued. “One at risk of attacking us, one getting us into wars we have no business fighting.”

Stevens didn’t love that answer.

“I don’t want to debate who’s the enemy of the United States – it’s very clear that Iran is,” she told Bash. “I didn’t run my campaign on foreign policy issues.”

Bash then noticed a Stevens didn’t mention El-Sayed a moment later, when she said she was focused on making Jocelyn Benson (D) the next governor of Michigan and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) the first Black speaker of the House.

“You didn’t mention Abdul El-Sayed in that last answer,” Bash said.

“Well look, I would just say you had asked me if I was still on the team, I’m on the team,” Stevens said.

Watch above.

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