Dana Bash did her level best to get Haley Stevens to say some kind words about Abdul El-Sayed (who is a very tiny man who needs a stepstool). Welp, that didn't go so well.
BASH: “You're still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed?” STEVENS: “Look, I'm on the Democratic ticket. I can't say that I agree with everything that's gone on… I'm looking to be on the team to support my next governor Jocelyn Benson, and frankly these great Democrats who are working their tails off, who are going to make Hakeem Jeffries the first black Speaker of the House.” BASH: “You didn't mention Abdul El-Sayed in that last answer.” STEVENS: “Well, look, I would just say, you had asked me if I'm still on the team, I'm on the team.”
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 25, 2026
That's quite a dance Haley was doing.
Ridiculous. For all the folks still pretending El-Sayed’s race is the same as Cooper’s or Peltola’s, do they have former Dem rivals refusing to fully endorse them on national TV? ‘Blue no matter who’ was a hypocritical centrist lie and this hypocrisy may hurt Dems in 2028.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 25, 2026
Oh Mehdi is big mad! Maybe El-Sayed's supporters constantly harassing Stevens led to this? It's so cute when the Democrats fight.
I guess it’s nice of Haley Stevens to clarify that if Abdul wins it is the second rejection of her by Michigan voters. She’s picking sides here.
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 25, 2026
Haley is making all the right people mad. Heh.
If the shoe had been on the other foot, and a progressive had given this kind of answer, they would be getting savaged now by the likes of Neera Tanden.
— austerity is theft (@wideofthepost) October 25, 2026
why's she Crockett-ing at the 11th hour
— Rowan Fornow 🚵🚉🏙️🦣🇵🇸 (@rowanfornow) October 25, 2026
Oh, they're big mad
What a terrible answer. Lord.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) October 25, 2026
Oh, she said exactly what she meant to say. It wasn't horrible. There was intent behind every single syllable.
🚨HALEY STEVENS: "To be fair, Mike Rogers is also campaigning rigorously in Detroit. I mean, every time you turn around, the guy is in Detroit." #MISEN
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) October 25, 2026
I can’t believe Haley Stevens isn’t more supportive of the guy who used every debate to call her stupid and say she was controlled by Israel.
— Matt Whitlock (@MattWhitlock) October 25, 2026
Shocking.
Not full-throated support, not by a long shot. Instead, a lot of well-deserved criticism. Get 'em, Haley!
— Jake Altman (@TradeUnionJake) October 25, 2026
I think anyone who was patting Haley Stevens on the back because she pretended to support Abdul for a brief moment after the primary should take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves how gullible they are, and if they should work on that.
— full slack (@fullslack_) October 25, 2026
Then, after that, they can cry more about it.
Yup. See the problem for Democrats is that they hyped up their prospects so much this year that even prominent House Dems feel no urgency to support El-Sayed or Talapico or Troy Jackson. It’s the tyranny of overconfidence. And it’s going to translate to weakness in the swing states and with Austin Mark Sanford. “Oh, why do I a proud Democrat need to support El-Sayed when we’ll have 55 seats in the Senate and 260 in the House, anyway?” That is their logic. I take no pleasure in reporting this, but I want every Online Democrat to feel it.
— Chris (@chriswithans) October 25, 2026
Let them be overconfident and Republicans go vote in record numbers. Sounds like a great plan!