{"id":97023,"date":"2026-10-29T22:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=97023"},"modified":"2026-10-30T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:35:33","slug":"mike-rogers-ted-cruz-event-draws-jewish-democratic-megadonor-who-rejects-el-sayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/mike-rogers-ted-cruz-event-draws-jewish-democratic-megadonor-who-rejects-el-sayed\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Rogers-Ted Cruz event draws Jewish Democratic megadonor who rejects El-Sayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANDREW LAPIN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2014 BIRMINGHAM, Mich. \u2013 The Republican Jewish Coalition typically isn\u2019t known for drawing committed Democrats to its events.<\/p>\n

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(L-r) Michigan GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, Jewish Republican strategist Jeff Miller and Texas GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz appear at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Birmingham, Mich., Oct. 28, 2026. (Andrew Lapin\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But that\u2019s what happened Wednesday night at the Townsend Hotel in suburban Detroit, when a campaign event for GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers attracted several Jews from the other side of the aisle. Those included Jason Turkish, a Democratic lawyer and megadonor best known as the fianc\u00e9 of pro-Israel Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost her bid to be the Democratic Senate nominee to Abdul El-Sayed.<\/p>\n

Turkish did not speak at the event. But just before it started, he had gone public with his declaration that he was voting for Rogers, and his conviction that Abdul El-Sayed, the former county health director who beat his fianc\u00e9e in the primary, was antisemitic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis choice for me, in the end, was very simple,\u201d Turkish told reporters from the sidelines. He cited recent instances of El-Sayed not answering whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the United States, and of the candidate only softly distancing himself from a PAC ad that blamed Israel for the price of groceries. <\/p>\n

\u201cHistory will remember who stands where in this moment, and it will not remember Abdul El-Sayed kindly,\u201d Turkish said.<\/p>\n

Turkish\u2019s public stance against his party\u2019s nominee, whom Stevens herself has endorsed while not directly campaigning for him, was yet another indication of the deep distrust and anger many of Michigan\u2019s pro-Israel Jewish voters have voiced toward El-Sayed throughout this campaign. Republicans are hoping that will translate into more Jewish lifelong Democrats, like Turkish and former Stevens campaign chair David Kramer, pulling the lever for Rogers instead.<\/p>\n

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Jason Turkish, a major Jewish Democratic donor in Michigan and fianc\u00e9e to pro-Israel U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, tells reporters he will be voting for Republican Mike Rogers for Senate while attending a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Birmingham, Michigan, on Oct. 28, 2026. (Andrew Lapin\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d Rogers, a former congressman, told reporters about Turkish\u2019s endorsement. From the stage, the candidate was clear about what he thinks of El-Sayed: \u201cHe\u2019s beyond antisemitic. He hates Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkish insisted that despite his Rogers vote, he was not a Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will vote for Democrats up and down the ballot,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t some major departure. You can support Democrats up and down the ballot and make a choice to choose country over party in one race.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked by reporters at a different campaign event about Turkish, El-Sayed responded, \u201cI\u2019m building a movement to take on the challenges that Donald Trump is facing. If folks have issues that are more important to them than that, that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the Jews in the RJC room were committed Republicans, who booed at the mention of progressive Jewish megadonor George Soros and cheered the name of far-right Jewish U.S. Rep. Randy Fine. <\/p>\n

The discomfort some Jews feel with El-Sayed and the desire to send a message to the party were a key part of the pitch that Rogers and Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz made to the estimated 500 attendees at the RJC event.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are lifelong Democrats who want to vote for Democrats for every other office, I\u2019m not advocating that,\u201d Cruz joked to the room. \u201cBut even if that\u2019s where you are,\u201d he urged, \u201csay there is a line that is too far, and this is that line.\u201d<\/p>\n

RJC spokesperson Sam Markstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had to fetch more chairs for overflow seating. Markstein said turnout for Wednesday\u2019s event was double what the RJC had drawn for a similar gathering in 2024 in support of Rogers\u2019 first, unsuccessful Senate run \u2014 when the GOP was stronger nationally than it is now. <\/p>\n

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GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers, of Michigan, addresses reporters following a campaign event staged by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Birmingham, Mich., Oct. 28, 2026. (Andrew Lapin\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hundreds of Jews in the state have signed a pledge to vote for Rogers, though a rival pledge to vote for El-Sayed has nearly twice as many signatures.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed\u2019s comments following the March terror attack on the preschool of the Detroit-area Temple Israel, in which he stated, in part, \u201cHurt people hurt people,\u201d haunt his perception among Jews months after he apologized for them. An Israeli strike in Lebanon had killed members of the attacker\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

At the RJC event, signs read \u201cNo, Abdul: Hurt People Help People\u201d and \u201cMike Will Keep Us Safe.\u201d Some attendees carried a parody picture book called \u201cHurt People Hurt People,\u201d featuring an El-Sayed-like \u201cDr. Context\u201d caricature who consoles the Big Bad Wolf instead of the Three Little Pigs.<\/p>\n

The RJC has made a $2 million ad buy with pro-Rogers commercials featuring members of Temple Israel, some of whom spoke to the crowd. A separate Jewish organization, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, has made its own ad buy for Rogers via a new political advocacy arm, featuring one of the same Temple Israel moms.<\/p>\n

The GOP sales pitch to Jews has also veered into darker territory, which was evident Wednesday night. Onstage, both Cruz and Rogers claimed that El-Sayed receiving Senate-level security clearance for intelligence briefings would pose a risk to national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risks are too high that he would share sensitive information with the Muslim Brotherhood,\u201d Cruz said, echoing a growing conservative attack line against the Democrat. He also called El-Sayed a \u201cjihadist leprechaun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers said that Hasan Piker, the anti-Israel streamer who campaigned with El-Sayed, \u201cshould go back to Turkey, where he belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked later by JTA about his comment, Rogers said he was referring to Piker\u2019s dual Turkish citizenship, and said, \u201cI just thought if he wanted to go back there because he hates America so much, I\u2019d pay for the ticket.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rogers appeared to distance himself from comments that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made at a Grand Rapids campaign event earlier this week with the candidate present. Kennedy had claimed that Arabs \u201cdon\u2019t produce science\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t win the Nobel Prize.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the campaign takes lefts and rights,\u201d Rogers told reporters, when asked about Kennedy. \u201cWhat I\u2019m concerned about is what\u2019s happening here. Our Arab community is showing lots of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The substantial Arab American community in this swing state makes it a key player in elections, and Republicans have been walking a tightrope between disparaging El-Sayed and keeping on board Arab Americans who voted two years ago for President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Rogers sought to make clear to the Jews in the room that he was aligned with Cruz, a pro-Israel stalwart who has picked public fights with far-right commentator Tucker Carlson. Cruz, though, has been a vocal proponent of war in Iran, while Rogers recently told JTA in an interview that \u201cwe met our objectives\u201d in Iran and should wind down the war there.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Rogers took a more hawkish tone on Iran. \u201cI\u2019d love to see this wrapped up, but I don\u2019t think we can leave it where they have any ability to hurt our friends and neighbors,\u201d he said. \u201cSo their army, navy, air force has to be as diminished as they can.\u201d <\/p>\n

Both men also took time from the stage to denounce antisemitism from the right.<\/p>\n

At their donor events, Rogers said, \u201cWithout fail. I would get three or four or five young, white men who would come up and say, \u2018You\u2019re not going to take Jewish money, are you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers chalked up the problem to college campuses, calling for efforts to \u201cget Qatari money out of our colleges.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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