Anchorage Gazette: Fiancé's Role in Stevens Campaign Fuels Debate

Jason Turkish was so integrated into Rep. Haley Stevens’s campaign that her senior staff held a meeting without her to limit his access. This internal friction emerged during the 2025 Democratic Senate primary, where Stevens competed against Abdul El-Sayed. Turkish, a 39-year-old disability lawyer and political fundraiser from Huntington Woods, had initially joined the effort as a major donor. By early June, multiple former staffers said the pair were secretly engaged and that Turkish had become Stevens’s most important adviser.

The campaign’s senior team grew concerned about Turkish’s influence in June. Staff members reported that Turkish berated employees over digital strategy, including the type of fundraising emails sent to supporters. He summoned a senior digital staffer to his law firm in Southfield to discuss ad content and fundraising tactics. In one exchange, he told a press aide that she was “not serving Haley well.” Turkish also sent Stevens lists of critical tweets about her, which four people familiar with the situation said added to staff anxiety.

Campaign managers Sam Barrett and other leaders established rules to manage Turkish’s presence. They required that he communicate only through Barrett, not directly to lower-level staff. They also rearranged Stevens’s schedule so a campaign employee was always the last person to speak with her before media events. These measures aimed to prevent Turkish from altering her talking points at the last minute. One former aide noted that staff would sometimes reposition Stevens during events to keep Turkish out of camera shots.

The tension resurfaced in the closing days of the general election. Stevens, 43, reversed her support for El-Sayed, the primary winner, and endorsed Republican Mike Rogers. Turkish had already backed Rogers days earlier, citing an “escalation” in El-Sayed’s rhetoric regarding the war in Israel. Stevens appeared with Rogers and Turkish at a church service on Sunday. This move led to Stevens’s removal from the Michigan Democratic Party, with party leaders stating she was “not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future.”

Stevens dismissed claims that Turkish dictated her political stance. She described the idea that he influenced her positions on Israel as “absurd.” In a lengthy post on X, she wrote that critics were suggesting someone else was “pulling the strings.” She described this narrative as “sexism dressed up as political analysis.” Turkish, who lives in the Detroit suburbs, said the campaign ended in defeat for Stevens but in marriage for the couple. He noted they spent thousands of hours together during the race.

Former top adviser Caitlin Legacki said Turkish was not a calming presence and that the situation was “very strange.” Legacki left the campaign after it became known she was also advising the tech company Palantir. Stevens stated that Legacki was fired for “undisclosed conflicts.” Friends of Stevens say the couple grew closer after her primary loss. James Blanchard, a former Michigan governor, called Stevens the morning after the primary defeat. Instead of sounding upset, she told him she was getting married.

The endorsement of Rogers split Stevens’s political base. Some close friends expressed concern about Turkish’s influence, particularly regarding her stance on Israel. Other Israel supporters applauded the decision as a tough position. Stevens told the Detroit News that by the time she was ready to endorse Rogers, staying with El-Sayed would have meant “living a lie.” She emphasized that she made the choice based on her own convictions, despite the political fallout.

The account of Turkish’s role is based on interviews with more than a dozen former campaign aides and other people familiar with the process. Turkish provided emails from June and July showing staff continued to consult him on campaign matters. He declined to address specific claims made by former staff on the record. Stevens said that any campaign staff quoted in reports about her were people who made her “miserable” while working with them.