Stevens defects to back El-Sayed’s Michigan opponent as Trump delivers anti-Muslim tirade | First Thing

Trump called Democratic candidate a ‘jihadist’ as El-Sayed’s defeated primary opponent backs Republican Mike Rogers. Plus an Australian fish worth its weight in gold

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Good morning. Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Michigan Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, has endorsed his Republican rival in an extraordinary rebuke of her party’s nominee on the eve of the midterm elections. Tensions between El-Sayed and Stevens had already led to him asking her to stay away from his campaign events, and her endorsement of Mike Rogers comes as the US president unleashed a racist tirade against El-Sayed in Iowa.

What did Stevens do? Her endorsement came in a video posted to X after she attended an event with Rogers at the predominantly Black Perfecting church in Detroit on Sunday. Stevens’s endorsement was the culmination of an escalating feud between the former primary rivals – primarily over support for Israel – that has roiled one of the most fiercely contested Senate contests of the cycle.

What did Trump say? The president bashed El-Sayed, a practicing Muslim, in brazenly racist terms, saying that Congress would have to “get a special metal detector for Abdul” if he were elected. “If you vote for this jihadist lunatic that wants to destroy you, you’re crazy. Mike Rodgers is apple pie. And you know what this country needs? A little apple pie. We don’t need the communists or jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood. We need apple pie.”