02c U.S. Politics – Election

Jewish Democrat donors in Metro Detroit are planning fundraisers for presumptive Republican nominee Mike Rogers as a “hedge” should far-left Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed win Michigan’s August 4 Democrat primary, according to a report published Monday.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that several prominent Metro Detroit Jews who have long raised money for Democrats are preparing fundraisers for the former congressman, while others plan to help him outright if El-Sayed takes the nomination, one person close to Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) campaign said.

Dennis Bernard, national chair of government relations for the nonpartisan Jewish Federations of North America and a Metro Detroit resident, said those donors have made their position clear should El-Sayed prevail.

“There are leaders in our Jewish community who are longtime, lifelong Democrats and Democratic fundraisers, who are very concerned with where their party’s going,” Bernard said. “And if this is the case, they’ve made it clear, both financially and with their vote, that they would support Mike Rogers in the event El-Sayed wins the primary.”

Detroit-area Jewish Democrats have approached him over golf outings asking for introductions to Rogers, Bernard added.

“This is a truly once-in-a-lifetime moment where you have to become a single-issue voter,” he said. “And that issue is antisemitism, our Judaism, and Israel. This is where you put party third: our people first, our country second.”