Even before the Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens scrambled Michigan’s U.S. Senate race on Sunday by endorsing the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, another man in her orbit had garnered increased attention: Jason Turkish, her fiancé. Turkish said last Wednesday that he would not support the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S.
Abdul El-Sayed, over his criticisms of Israel. Stevens threw her support behind Mr. Rogers after joining him for services at a prominent Black church in Detroit, despite previous assurances to Democratic leaders that she would support her party’s ticket.
El-Sayed — and the role that Mr. Turkish may have played in the intraparty spat — underlines how the debate over U.S. support of Israel has roiled Democratic politics. Turkish, 39, is a lawyer and fund-raiser for Democratic candidates and Jewish causes.
He is based in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit. He is also the president and managing partner of Nyman Turkish, a disability rights firm. He has been legally blind since birth.
Turkish is a longtime political donor. A self-proclaimed “lifelong Democrat,” he and his firm have given money to multiple Democratic campaigns across the country but he has also donated to at least one Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, according to federal records. James Blanchard of Michigan, a close friend of Ms.
Turkish as “a real political junkie” who has raised a lot of money for Democratic candidates in the state. He is also active in the state’s Jewish and pro-Israel circles and is a donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He has relatives who live and were born in Israel.
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