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Stevens (D) Won’t Say Whether She Endorses Rashida Tlaib

Michigan congresswoman accepted campaign donation from Rep. Ilhan Omar

September 16, 2019

Rep. Haley Stevens (D., Mich.) did not respond when asked whether she would endorse fellow Michigan Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib. 

"Congresswoman Stevens, the question is will you be supporting congresswoman Tlaib for her reelection in endorsing her?" a man asked in a video recorded during Labor Day weekend. 

Stevens ignored the question and tried to make conversation with a woman and man walking near her.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) responded similarly over Labor Day weekend when she was also asked whether she planned to endorse Tlaib.

In March, Stevens accepted a campaign contribution from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), another member of the "squad" of progressive freshman congresswomen. 

Democratic and Republican colleagues have criticized Tlaib and Omar's various anti-Semitic comments. Stevens supported the House resolution that condemned anti-Semitism and other forms of hate following Tlaib and Omar's statements. Stevens, however, failed to directly condemn the statements despite her campaign promise to "stand alongside Israel." 

"Either Haley Stevens returns Ilhan Omar's campaign donation or she is complicit in the anti-Semitism Omar promotes," Carly Atchison, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.

Tlaib supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize the Jewish state, while Stevens has criticized the movement. 

"I believe the BDS movement is a deeply biased campaign, which only targets Israel, and not any other nation," Stevens's campaign website says. "Its main goal is to delegitimize Israel's existence and inflame tensions in communities and on college campuses, which undermines the prospects for peace."

"If Haley Stevens was serious about standing with Israel, she would have been the first to criticize her anti-Semite colleague [Tlaib] for siding with the terrorists," Atchison said. "Instead, Haley stays shamefully silent, choosing to side with anti-Semites over Israel."