Jason Turkish spent Monday night making frantic phone calls. He was fighting a fire his fiancée, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, started when she abandoned her party. Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed, unexpectedly endorsed Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday. The move shocked Detroit politics and raised immediate questions about Turkish’s role.
Turkish, 39, is a managing partner at Nyman Turkish in Southfield. He met Stevens in 2022 through mutual friend David Kramer. Their engagement, kept secret until after the August primary, had already strained relations with her campaign team. Senior staffers told The Washington Post they held a closed-door meeting in June. They discussed how to limit Turkish’s influence after he began criticizing digital fundraising strategies. One staffer recalled him summoning a senior digital employee to his law office to yell about email content.
The endorsement itself caught the Rogers campaign off guard. A spokesperson confirmed they learned of the switch only after Stevens’ video hit social media. Trump called Stevens “brave” and hinted she should join the GOP. House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly sent a message of support. But the optics for Democrats were brutal. Rep. Jamie Raskin spoke to Stevens for 25 minutes on Saturday night. She told him she remained committed to the party and would celebrate with Democrats on election night. By Sunday’s church service in Detroit, she was standing next to Rogers.
The most damaging claim came from Jordan Acker, a University of Michigan regent. Acker said he spoke to Stevens on Saturday morning when she planned to stay silent. He alleged Turkish took her phone away, preventing her from communicating freely. Turkish disputed this to The Daily Beast, instead attacking Acker’s character. He referenced a prior university investigation into Acker’s conduct involving sexual comments about a strategist. The feud now has a personal edge, complicating an already messy final week before the November 3 vote.