Sam Robinson, reporter who broke news of Haley Stevens endorsement of Mike Rogers talks about race

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our election night preview. I'm Rup Raj coming to you live from our Fox 2 newsroom. We have so much going on. As you know, of course, the big story of the day, Haley Stevens, Congresswoman Stevens backing Republican Mike Rogers in the Senate race, obviously something that so many people are talking about, not just here in Michigan, but really across the country. If you turn on any cable news channel, which we don't suggest you do, you're going to see that they're talking about this. And for good reason, because Because, look, the balance of power is depending on what happens on Tuesday. Who will be the 51st person, will it be? Abdul El-Sayed, will it be Mike Rogers? Will it actually turn the balance of power? Depending on who's in there, obviously it will. And so, so much is at stake. And so many people are talking about Haley Stevens here today. And it really is a political shocker in so many ways because people did not expect this to happen. You know, Haley Stevens sources telling me up until even late last night, did not have any intention of waking up this morning and deciding to throw Throw her allegiance towards Mike Rogers, but that's exactly what happened. I know I got a tip this morning, very early in the morning, and so did another reporter who actually was the first reporter to get the tip. That's Sam Robinson, and Sam, it's so good to see you. Thanks for joining us here tonight. We appreciate you being with us. Thanks for the invitation. Yeah, it was quite the morning. I was waking up. I actually woke up to a message. Hey, come to this church service. I was already planning to go to an Abdul El-Sayed appearance. He was appearing across town at a different church. I didn't believe it at first. I called one of my good sources. I said, have you heard this? I called one of Haley's key allies, legislative allies in Michigan. He told me, no way that this is happening. That's not true. So I get to perfecting right there in Van Dyke and Nevada, and I see who else but Jason Turkish, Haley Stevens' fiance. This guy is larger than life, and he looks like Garland Gilchrist. He's so tall. And I see him getting out of the black SUV, and I say, oh, my God. Because the Mike Rogers campaign did not actually tell us for sure that Haley would be there. They gave us a hint, and I said, If you say this and she doesn't come, I'm going to be really disappointed. The hint was a special Democratic guest will be joining us this morning. I think when you read between the lines, the most special Democratic guest that Mike Rogers could ever want, outside of which no one would ever expect, someone like Barack or Michelle Obama to show up, ain't happening. And so this was something that happened. It was in many ways a surprise to people in Washington. But it was also perhaps a surprise to the people closest to Haley Stevens, because as of last night and as of two nights ago at that dinner that's been published about in Gonger and in Detroit News and elsewhere, she was planning on being with Al Sayed. She did not. Talk about this before she did it. She made a decision, you know, Republicans are saying a courageous one, certainly one that's going to put her in jeopardy in the future of the Democratic Party at risk. Curtis Hertel today telling us that Haley Stevens is no longer welcome in the Democratic Party. He said the same thing about Mike Duggan. Haley Stevens actually compared Mike Rogers to Mike Duggan, saying he also left the Democratic Party. Haley told us that she's not leaving the party. She's still supporting the Democratic candidates, Jocelyn Benson, Garland Gilchrist. You know, it's really interesting saying the safety of Jewish residents is her top concern. And so that is the reason why she was unable to fully get behind. We saw her actually do that right the day after the primary. She endorsed Abdul. Comments by a Twitch streamer, Hassan Piker. Yeah. You know, I think comments from Abdul himself sort of put Haley in a position where she felt like, you know what? This party doesn't want me. She actually brought up the fact that she was booed at the Democratic Party convention in April. And that's a very interesting point because the, not the condemnation, but the not such warm reception is nothing new for Haley Stevens and the Democratic Party. You mentioned that convention. People who are politicos like you remember that very well. Most people who are trying to pay the bills, get gas in the tank and food on the table aren't keeping track and keeping tabs on. Who booed, who when, and why. But we should remind them that it was back in April that that actually did happen. And that was, I think, the first kind of icy feeling that Haley may have gotten saying, maybe I'm not welcome in this particular party. But it has been anything but a warm reception from Dua El-Sayed, from Haley Stevens. If you even think about the lukewarm endorsement of sorts, not even the endorsement, but actions by Haley Stevens, it's been, yeah, I'll stand by him. I think he should still disavow these things, and that ultimately is what led Debbie Dingle to tell her, hey, maybe you should step aside, because there was a call, as you may or may not know, for Haley Stevens to disavow and add that. Hasan Piker's uncle apparently had helped produce and put out that he's very proud of, talking about why Jews are to blame for so much of the war efforts across the world and whatnot. And it was really, it was by all means a tasteless ad that was put out there. And whether there's truth to it to some people or not, it wasn't a great ad. It wasn't well-written, not good acting either. Bad actors. You've got to have good acting in these political ads. Or just rip my videos off Twitter without asking me for permission. Some people do that. Yeah, Dems for Mike Rogers. But the end of the day, the bottom line is, Haley Stevens said, hey, I will accept you, Abdul, if you disavow that ad from Hasan Piker's uncle. That sounds, again, the person who's trying to put gas in the tank, Isn't us concerned about that? But obviously within the party, it was a huge concern, right? Yeah, this whole race has really been an indictment on where democratic priorities are, where voters feel about Israel, frankly, whether or not we should be sending money, weapons, aiding the Israeli military in what many people feel is a genocide, right? People feel like the war in Gaza and the encroachment upon Lebanon. These are issues that we hear in Metro Detroit, Detroit, every single day. It's highly motivating to people. And on the other side, I think you have a lot of people who are saying Abdul's rhetoric is completely anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitism is certainly on the rise. And they feel like his stances on Israel do not help. And so I think we're going to see, Roop, in this 2028 election, this issue play out again, whether or not Democratic candidates Stand with, in lockstep with Israel. I mean, we saw candidates sort of play both sides. We saw Mallory McMurrow during her campaign really try to triangulate. Yeah, she really tried to play both sides of that issue. And unfortunately, as we know, being a part of this community, so often it's one side or the other. And Haley Stevens certainly felt like she could not. I mean, she's not the only one, right? Jeremy Moss has not endorsed. He certainly hasn't endorsed. Mike Rogers. Hillary Sculpin, the West Michigan congresswoman, she has not endorsed Mike Rogers. So taking it a step further than any of us would have ever expected. I mean, Haley, for her entire primary campaign, talked about how she was going to defeat Mike Rogers, how Mike Rogers was the actual threat, not Abdul. Yeah. And I think, you know, you've got to what's the singular goal of doing anything? If you're running for office like that, is my singular goal as a Democrat to, as they've said. To make sure Mike Rogers doesn't get in there, to make sure that nothing is rubber stamped that President Trump puts forth. Or is your goal multifaceted? And I think that, you know, oftentimes, you know, people have diverse reasons for believing in a party. And I think that obviously when you're a candidate who's now been, in a sense, disenfranchised from the party in many ways. Right. How do you then come back and say, all right, what do I believe in? What do I believe? Because she does not agree with Mike Rogers on everything. Right. And I asked Haley Stevens today, how do you stand next to somebody that stands against? Everything that you say, you stand for. What did she tell you? Nothing. Nothing. Yeah. I mean, nothing to the degree of an answer there. I think she said nobody's perfect. So, you know, I do think based on the conversation that I had with voters, people feel like she betrayed the Democratic Party. People feel like she betrayed them. I mean, I talked to one man outside of Perfecting Church, a member of that church who told me that he sat right next to Haley Stevens, didn't say a word to her, said he was disgusted, said, did she talk to Barack Obama who just came here to unify the party? So let me ask you a question, Sam. You're hitting the streets. You're going to all these rallies and churches and events. So you have the news cycle is so quick now, right? I mean, it was last week. I was interviewing President Trump in Port Huron. Oh, momentum is swelling. The name's Roop. That was a good line. Yeah. Well, it's true. The name is Roop. He said, I guess you had something on your shirt and it said Muhammad on it. I could read it from outer space with Space Force, and I said, my name's Ruth. It's effective rhetoric. I do think that that type of, you know, inflammatory anti-group, it's working. It's motivating voters. But my question to you is, so the news cycle so quickly, you had President Trump in town the day before they had President Obama in town, and now a week later, you have Haley Stevens, who essentially is saying, I'm going to support Mike Rogers. Does that wipe away the effect of the visits from these other folks, these surrogates, in your mind? Is the news cycle that quick that people who are undecided perhaps are just sitting there going, I don't even remember Obama. It's not the visits themselves. You know what it is that has an effect on people? It's having Obama and Abdul. The photo of them high-fiving on literature. I saw my first piece of literature that had Obama. It came in the mail. Yeah, and so you'd imagine that flooding your mailbox after your mailbox was just flooded with Haley Stevens and Obama. Yeah. A lot of people, Democratic, Big D, Blue Dog, Haley Stevens supporters are really upset to a degree that I'm kind of surprised. People who aren't voting for Abdul Al-Sayed openly, people like Noah Arbit. You know, we've seen. Haley's former spokespeople, who she worked with in Michigan, worked with us as reporters. Disavow this. Melissa Nan Burke is a reporter for the Detroit News. She reported today that Haley's entire congressional office has quit. And so this is something that is, you know, broiling among Democratic insiders. Let's talk about that for a moment, because that's that's interesting. You have the chief of staff, essentially, you know, the chief guy. Step by step by step out, Mr. German. Then you have a bunch of other people who are saying, I'm going to leave with him. They're out of a job. They say I'd rather step aside from someone who's supporting Mike Rogers than actually work for this congresswoman who I thought I knew. How does Congresswoman Haley Stevens, I know she's kind of wrapping up, how does she go back to Washington and what does she do with her career moving forward? She was viewed as a leader. She was viewed as one of the most reliable Democratic members. In Congress, certainly a leader in the Michigan Congressional Delegation and within the Michigan Democratic Party. And not only that, I mean, she was she's popular. She was popular before this. Right. And so you really wonder, you know, I don't want to wade into the hearsay gossip. I think D.C. journalists are going to do that over how much influence that her fiance has in this. Right. I just met Jason Turkish for the first time today, so I can't speak to how much he's influencing her. However, you know, I do think that... Curtis Hertel, the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, he told me, you know, a little bit of this is sour grapes. I do think that, you know, whatever you want to say of a sore loser, if this is her being upset over sort of her vision, her brand of the Democratic Party dying, you know, I do think that might be part of it. And Sam, I think it's also noteworthy to reflect on not just what she told you outside of perfecting church today, but also she tweeted from her car in which the reason she gave for breaking from Abdul. Was essentially saying in seemingly a hurt way, you know, Abdul made it clear that he's that I'm not invited. Wasn't welcome. I'm not welcome. And so I agree. I'm not welcome. And I'm going to walk away. If that is your primary thing that you say, then there is some reasons behind that first answer that you get. It's not, I don't agree with the policies. I believe in Mike Rogers policies more. It's not, I believe that Abdul Al-Sayed is going to hurt Michigan. I believe Mike Rogers will help. It was, I was disinvited and okay, you don't want me here. I'm going to leave. It sounded a little bit, and excuse me, I don't want to be trite about this, but it sounded a little bit like a scorned spouse of sorts. Like, you don't want me in the house? I'm leaving. And it didn't seem like it held a lot of weight relative to policy. Is that your read? She said that the one statement that she made before she walked into the church to one of the members was that. She's for black business owners, for black businesses in Detroit, and she said that Mike Rogers is, I know that he's going to take that on himself, and so she's actually kind of, you know, using her primary rhetoric, which was black Michiganders, you can trust me, Obama's with me, he trusted me to bail out the auto industry. 67% of Detroiters agree. Yeah, and so, man, I can't tell you how much this is absolutely shocking. I personally. I've never seen anything like this. I haven't been around that long. But in my time, yeah, I really, guys, I cannot believe that this is happening. This is not just shocking, but it's just like. But Sam, what is this? Speechless. Here's the thing. You may say you have not seen a lot as much as other people. You have covered, in the last couple of years, intently, on the ground, more Michigan politics than some people have been doing it for 20 years. And so give yourself a pat on the back and some credit. You've also scooped a lot of people, and you've done a lot of great work. So I'll give you that compliment. But I will say that perhaps it's in the people that you speak with that I find the most interest in your reporting. You really do talk. to everyday Detroiters, and you reflect back to them what you're hearing from the politicians. You are a bridge between the two, and I like that about your reporting. Now I'm going to ask you the question, as the bridge between the politicians and the people, as a journalist who's out on the streets at the churches and in the rallies, Does this really make a huge difference? A difference? I understand. A huge difference, yes or no? The voters that I've talked to, this is going to make them more fired up to go and tell their friends to vote for Abdul El-Sayed. Not only does this not matter, nobody's caring about what Haley Stevens, who she's going to vote for, what she says even, right? I mean, that's what the primary is for. That's what voters in the North End just told me, right? That's what the primary is for. Someone told me that she's a hater, talking about Haley Stevens. People are upset. People feel like she betrayed the party at a time when the stakes are what they are, right? So what do they do? If I feel betrayed by Haley Stevens, what do you do? She's not even running. She's not on the ticket. Someone who voted for Haley during the primary told me that this is just more reason to support Abdul Al-Sayed, which was something that I think nobody would have foreseen. How can Abdul win over the Haley Stevens supporters? Haley going and endorsing Mike Rogers? Well, Sam, you and I are going to be back on the other side of the break. I want to talk more about this. As we do that, I want to make sure that you realize that coming up in just a few minutes, you're going to be airing that Mike Rogers one-on-one exclusive that I did here today in our studio just a few feet from where I'm standing right now. So we're going to get a listen to that. Also going to listen to Mallory McMurrow and Debbie Dingle, what they think about Haley Stevens doing this. More on that and more with Sam Robinson on the other side of this break. Stay with us.