Ted Cruz Says Michigan Democrat's Endorsement Could 'Ensure' GOP Senate Win

Senator Ted Cruz said on Monday that Representative Haley Stevens' endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers could decide Michigan's Senate race.

Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed in August, endorsed Rogers on Sunday, two days before Tuesday's election. On the final episode of his podcast Verdict before the vote, Cruz told co-host Ben Ferguson the move could tip a race he described as close to even.

"I think this could have a very real impact. I think this could ensure that Mike Rogers wins. I obviously hope that's the outcome," Cruz said.

Cruz Says Michigan Senate Race Is 'Basically Tied'

He said that applied to Jewish voters, moderates, women and anyone who "cares a little bit about national security."

The polling gives El-Sayed a modest lead, not a tie. PolitiKool's polling average puts him at 49.3 percent to Rogers' 44.5 percent, a lead of 4.8 points. The CBS News Battleground Tracker rates the race a toss-up.

The primary was far tighter. In AP's call-night count, taken with 86 percent of precincts reporting, El-Sayed led Stevens 743,441 votes to 727,747, or about 48.5 percent to 47.5 percent, a margin of roughly 15,700 votes. Cruz, citing slightly higher totals, called it "just one point."

Cruz's Account of the Unity Event

Cruz said he was campaigning with Rogers in Michigan last week when Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, publicly said he would vote for the Republican. Cruz said he spoke with Turkish at that event. Stevens initially said the couple disagreed and that she still backed El-Sayed.

The split came over an ad from Rebellion PAC, an outside group. CBS News describes a couple setting aside $7 "for killing Palestinians" instead of buying eggs. Cruz called it "one of the most vicious Jew hating ads I've ever seen" and said Stevens asked El-Sayed to disavow it. Cruz's version of what happened next is secondhand. He said El-Sayed refused to disavow the ad and then told Stevens, "I don't want you to come to the event. Stay away from the event," referring to a Sunday unity gathering with Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

El-Sayed has said the ad "was not made by me" and that he disagreed with its contents, and his campaign distanced itself from it. He accused Stevens of "relitigating a primary that ended three months ago."

What Haley Stevens Actually Said

Cruz told listeners that Stevens found El-Sayed "too embracing of the Muslim Brotherhood" to support. Her endorsement video did not mention the Muslim Brotherhood. She pointed instead to Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer, and to campus hate.

"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign. I do not stand with Hasan Piker who gets trafficked on our college campuses," Stevens said in the video, which Cruz played. She added: "I'm still a very proud Democrat."

The Muslim Brotherhood charge is Cruz's own. He said El-Sayed has been "a vocal, passionate and public supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood for decades." Republicans have pointed to posts from 2012 and 2013 by El-Sayed's half-sister and to a 2012 open letter he signed as a medical student supporting Egypt's then-president, Mohamed Morsi. CBS News reports that the half-sister's posts referred to their birth mother's involvement with the Brotherhood in Egypt in the early 1970s. El-Sayed has said, "I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood." His campaign calls the attacks "a bigoted anti-Muslim smear campaign."

Cruz Takes On Face the Nation and Senate Democrats

Cruz criticized CBS host Margaret Brennan for airing his warning about giving El-Sayed classified access without what he called "the facts." On Sunday's broadcast, Brennan told Senator Bernie Sanders that Cruz had warned against El-Sayed getting classified intelligence. Sanders replied by criticizing what Cruz, Trump, Vance and others were saying about El-Sayed.

Cruz also attacked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called Stevens' endorsement "a despicable betrayal." Michigan's Democratic senators, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, also disavowed it, and Stevens' chief of staff resigned, CNBC reported.

As a precedent, Cruz said he had told Turkish about Roy Moore, whom Republicans nominated for the Senate in Alabama "a couple of cycles ago." Cruz said he withdrew his support for Moore after what he called credible allegations that Moore had sexually abused teenage girls. Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones. Cruz said he had decided that "some things are more important than just sticking with your party."

What Happens Next

Michigan voters go to the polls Tuesday. Stevens' defection is the latest late shock in a race already shaped by attacks on El-Sayed. The result will show whether El-Sayed's 4.8-point lead in PolitiKool's polling average holds up after Stevens' endorsement.