Hour 3 - Mike Rogers With the Stevens Backstory

Clay Travis (0:00)

Welcome in our number three Election Eve edition, Clay and Buck. We head up now, I believe he's in Detroit, because I just saw him on television. Two US. Senate candidate, Mike Rogers. Explosive story over the weekend. Haley Stevens, former Democrat, runoff basically against Abdul El-Sayed. She lost narrowly. She has flipped teams. She now is endorsing Mike Rogers in the Senate race. So let's start there.

How did this come about, Mike? I read in multiple different news stories, I think, that you reached out, invited her to come with you to a Detroit area church after she had been feuding with Abdul El-Sayed over the anti-Semitic campaign that he has been running. Her fiance last week came out and said he was voting for you. I think I saw her say that her mom also voted for you. How did this all come to be? And what should we know and congrats on a big addition right before voting day?

Mike Rogers (1:03)

Yeah, no, this is huge. And it's important to remember that she didn't say she's becoming a Republican. She's voting Democrat down the rest of the ticket. And so what she's saying is this guy is so extreme, I can't vote for him. And in fact, I'm so worried about him. I'm voting for Mike Rogers. And it was kind of a pin in a series of high-profile Democrats that have come out and said, this guy is extreme. So we're hoping that Michigan voters, you know, sit up and pay attention to that. I think her coming out yesterday obviously just kind of blew this thing up in a good way and let people understand. It's not about her. It's not about her arguing with Abdul. It's about Abdul's mean, aggressive, divisiveness. And it was all over him not being able to disavow, I think, the most racist ad I've seen in my lifetime in politics here in Michigan, where he is a super PAC.

Hassan's Piker's uncle ran this ad that basically blamed Jews for high prices, including the price of bananas. I mean, I've never seen anything quite like it. And he can't disavow it. He won't disavow it. He won't disavow all of the statements from Hassan Piker, you know, who believed we deserve 9-11. I mean, it's just one after another after another. And then he got so mad at her, he just said, you know what, don't come to any of my events. I don't want to see you around the campaign. And I think she did a lot of soul searching.

There's no backroom deals. There's no there's no palace intrigue here. She just called on the way when we were driving. My wife and I were heading to the church services downtown Detroit.

She called and said, hey, you know, it saved me a seat, which was we were honored and happy to do.

Clay Travis (2:59)

All right, you hang up with Haley Stevens right after that phone call. You turn to your wife and you say what?

Mike Rogers (3:06)

Holy, you know what? It was Sunday, so I had to correct myself.

Charlie Hatcher (3:11)

That's what I would bet.

Clay Travis (3:13)

That's probably what I would have said. So, OK, I just wanted to get that full story for people who don't know out there. All right, Buck, dive in here.

Buck Sexton (3:21)

Well, it's kind of a follow on in a sense here, because look, I think that Haley Stevens' endorsement obviously speaks to the radicalism, lack of character, bizarre aggression that Abdul El-Sayed has shown this entire time publicly on the campaign trail on television. But we come back to different constituencies in your state and how they view it and how that will affect their vote. Clay and I have been analyzing, discussing at some length, the Jewish vote in Michigan.

What can you tell us about where you think that's going to come down? We know there are Republicans, look, we got a lot of Republican Jews who listen to the show. We probably have some independents and maybe even some Democrat Jews who listen to the show. We know the Republicans are going to come out and vote for you, Jewish or any other kind in Michigan. Are you getting some Democrat Jewish voters who are coming forward and saying, hey, this Abdul El-Sayed thing is a bigger indicator of what's going on with the Democrat Party?

I'm going to vote for you this time.

Mike Rogers (4:20)

Yes, in droves. And there is a whole effort, there's a whole kind of organic effort that started, Jewish Democrats for Rogers. And it's real, you know, sometimes campaigns throw things up just for optics. This is not optics. This is real.