Haley Stevens has recently urged Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to leave Hasan Piker out of his campaign. The Michigan politician recently lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, and her advice was not viewed positively by social media users.
In a recent interview with Fox News, which was widely shared on X, the reporter can be seen asking whether she’s concerned that El-Sayed was “too extreme” for Michigan voters, considering how close the primary was.
When she asks, “Would you call on Abdul El-Sayed today to moderate on any specific issues?” Stevens starts her answer by saying, “It certainly makes sense to get rid of this Hasan Piker affiliation,” a topic she continuously touched upon during the primaries. During the rest of the interview, she also criticized El-Sayed’s performance with women and Black voters.
Michigan Residents React to Stevens’ Advice to El-Sayed
Stevens’ advice for El-Sayed irritated users on X, as many believed that she should stop criticizing her party’s teammate. Others criticized Stevens for continuing to focus on this topic: “Seems almost like Hasan Piker beat Stevens, not Abdul. Can’t even talk about policy when it’s about Abdul.” Someone else added: “HALEY, STOP. NO VOTER ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HASAN THIS MUCH. LOG OFF.”
Some people also thought it was ironic that she was giving advice to a politician who actually beat her: “Ah, yes, let’s take election tips from the likes of Haley Stevens. What next, shall we defer to John Fetterman’s wisdom too?”
There were some folks who did see wisdom in Stevens’ words, however: “It is no secret Abdul isn’t the most popular with Democratic voters. He was expected to win by a big margin, and come election night, he won by 2%. Mike Rogers got a video out calling Democrats who don’t support Abdul to vote for him. And that demographic is what is going to make or break this election.”
Most people believed that Stevens should take a more supportive approach, however, considering how important the election is for both local and national politics. One user summarized the overall sentiment of the comments: “Stevens, you lost the primary. Stop telling the winners how to campaign.”
