为什么海莉·史蒂文斯对阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德津津乐道在一次坦诚的采访中，她描述了自己的失望，并表示她正在考虑改信犹太教。她的未婚夫也表达了想法。
Why Haley Stevens Can’t Stop Talking About Abdul El-Sayed In a frank interview, she described her disappointment and also said she was considering converting to Judaism. Her fiancé had thoughts, too.
来自密歇根州的联邦众议员海莉·史蒂文斯从餐桌旁站了起来——桌上的金枪鱼和马佐球汤只吃了一半——并对她对阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德博士幻想破灭的那一刻直言不讳。
Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan stood up from her dining table, where the tuna fish and matzo ball soup sat half-eaten, and let loose about the moment she grew disillusioned with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
这发生在这个月，在她所在州的首场参议院辩论期间。对阵双方是埃尔-赛义德博士（他在8月份的一场激烈的民主党初选中击败了她）和前联邦众议员、共和党提名人迈克·罗杰斯。作为以色列直言不讳的批评者，埃尔-赛义德博士被问及是伊朗还是以色列对美国构成了更大的威胁。他回避了这个问题，称其为一个“荒谬的假设”。这对于史蒂文斯女士来说是不可接受的。
It happened this month, during her state’s first Senate debate between Dr. El-Sayed, who defeated her in a bitter Democratic primary in August, and former Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee. Dr. El-Sayed, an outspoken critic of Israel, was asked if Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the United States. He dodged the question, calling it a “ridiculous hypothetical.”This was unacceptable to Ms. Stevens.
周五，她在密歇根州伯明翰的家中接受午餐采访时提高嗓音并从桌旁站了起来，她说道：“他是个出色的演讲者。他是个演说家。他很有天赋。那怎么会发生这种事？拜托！”自辩论以来，史蒂文斯女士连续接受了一系列有线电视采访，对埃尔-赛义德博士的批评与日俱增，她对后者的背书也一天比一天动摇。他们在8月份的一次党内团结早午餐上的拥抱已成为遥远的回忆。
“He’s a good speaker,” she said during the lunchtime interview on Friday at her home in Birmingham, Mich., raising her voice and rising from the table. “He’s an orator. He is gifted. Then how does that happen? Come on!”Since the debate, Ms. Stevens has sat for a procession of cable television interviews that have been increasingly critical of Dr. El-Sayed, her endorsement of him becoming shakier by the day. Their hug at a party unity brunch in August has faded into distant memory.
周五，史蒂文斯女士宣布她将于周日在底特律与埃尔-赛义德博士一同参加一场礼拜活动，这是一场由密歇根州联邦众议员黛比·丁格尔和南卡罗来纳州联邦众议员詹姆斯·E·克莱伯恩斡旋的求和姿态。但史蒂文斯女士的声明附带了一个条件：要求埃尔-赛义德博士公开谴责他的一位盟友在网上发布的一则广告。她称这则广告具有反犹太主义性质，因为它将美国对以色列的支持归咎于高昂的杂货价格。周五，埃尔-赛义德博士进行了回击。
On Friday, Ms. Stevens announced that she would attend a Sunday church service in Detroit with Dr. El-Sayed, a peace offering brokered by Representatives Debbie Dingell of Michigan and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina. But Ms. Stevens’s statement came with a caveat: a demand that Dr. El-Sayed publicly disavow an ad that one of his allies posted online. She called the ad antisemitic because it blamed U.S. support for Israel for high grocery prices. On Friday, Dr. El-Sayed pushed back.
他在一份措辞严厉的声明中提醒称，他在8月击败了她，并断言“Stevens众议员似乎意图重新争辩三个月前已结束的初选”。他们计划周日的联合露面能否如期举行似乎尚不确定。
In a blistering statement, he offered a reminder that he beat her in August and an assertion that “Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.”Whether their planned joint appearance on Sunday will go ahead seems up in the air.
Stevens女士周五晚些时候表示，她不确定教堂活动是否仍将举行，甚至不确定自己是否仍受邀。她说，El-Sayed博士的团队周五没有给她打过电话。她还表示，她没有撤回对他的背书，也不打算撤回。
Ms. Stevens said late Friday that she was not sure if the church event was still happening, or even if she was still invited. She said that no one from Dr. El-Sayed’s team had called her on Friday. She also said she had not retracted her endorsement of him and did not plan to.
“我还没来得及消化这件事，”她说。她补充道，“我不认为这是一出闹剧。” 密歇根州其他一些民主党人对Stevens女士在竞选最后几天进行的不利于El-Sayed博士的媒体行程感到困惑，因为El-Sayed博士是该党夺回参议院控制权推进中的关键一环。民调显示，El-Sayed博士与Rogers先生陷入胶着。要赢得参议院多数席位，民主党需要守住密歇根州等民主党把持的参议院席位，并至少在四个由共和党把持的州实现反转。
“I haven’t had time to digest this,” she said. She added, “I don’t think this is a melodrama.”Some other Michigan Democrats have been baffled by Ms. Stevens’s unsupportive media tour in the final days of the campaign, with Dr. El-Sayed serving as a key chess piece in the party’s push to take back the Senate. Polls show Dr. El-Sayed in a close race with Mr. Rogers. To win the chamber, Democrats need to retain Democratic-held Senate seats like Michigan’s and flip at least four states held by Republicans.
“我完全搞不懂Haley Stevens到底在搞什么，”州参议员Mallory McMorrow周五在CNN上表示，她也曾竞选密歇根州联邦参议员，并在初选前一个月退选。“这是一个我们必须认清利害关系的时刻。” El-Sayed博士的竞选团队拒绝就Stevens女士的评论置评。
“I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing,” Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who also ran for the U.S. Senate in Michigan and dropped out a month before the primary, said on CNN on Friday. “This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes.”Dr. El-Sayed’s campaign declined to discuss Ms. Stevens’s commentary.
Stevens女士对El-Sayed博士日益尖锐的批评，鲜明地表明，一些温和派民主党人和犹太选民对其候选人资格的抵制依然多么强烈。
Ms. Stevens’s growing criticism of Dr. El-Sayed serves as a stark sign of just how fiercely resistant some moderate Democrats and Jewish voters remain to his candidacy.
在多次采访中，她反复提到对一则网络广告的愤怒，该广告由支持El-Sayed博士的左翼组织Rebellion PAC制作，而他拒绝公开与之划清界限。El-Sayed竞选团队表示，该广告非其制作，也不为此负责。
Several times in the interviews, she returned to her anger over the online ad, made by Rebellion PAC, a left-wing group that backed Dr. El-Sayed, and his refusal to publicly disavow it. The El-Sayed campaign has said it did not make and is not responsible for the ad.
“也许是为了筹款，也许是为了让人们相信什么，但现实是，我们不会说杂货价格上涨是因为犹太人和犹太国家，”史蒂文斯女士说。“我们不会说我们没有医疗保健是因为犹太人和犹太国家。”史蒂文斯女士不是犹太人，但一直是一名支持以色列的民主党人。她青少年时期曾参加过犹太人的过夜夏令营，现在代表郊区的奥克兰县，那里居住着密歇根州很大一部分犹太人口。
“Maybe it’s how you fund-raise, maybe it is what you want people to believe, but the reality is that we are not going to say that the cost of groceries is because of Jews and the Jewish state,” Ms. Stevens said. “We’re not going to say we don’t have health care because of Jews and the Jewish state.”Ms. Stevens is not Jewish but has always been a pro-Israel Democrat. She attended a Jewish sleep-away camp as a teenager and now represents suburban Oakland County, which is home to a large segment of Michigan’s Jewish population.
在她与埃尔-赛义德博士的初选中，以色列问题占据了主导地位，美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）的主要超级政治行动委员会（Super PAC）至少花费了3000万美元支持她的竞选活动。她现在还有一位伴侣，他在该问题上的立场可能比她更坚定。
Tensions over Israel dominated her primary with Dr. El-Sayed, when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s main super PAC spent at least $30 million backing her campaign. She also now has a partner who may feel even more strongly about the issue than she does.
她的未婚夫杰森·土耳其是一位犹太裔律师，曾为民主党和共和党都筹集过资金，他在批评埃尔-赛义德博士方面走得比她更远。他公开背书罗杰斯先生，并于周三出席了他的一场竞选活动。
Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, a Jewish lawyer who has raised money for both Democrats and Republicans, has gone even further than she has in criticizing Dr. El-Sayed. He publicly endorsed Mr. Rogers and appeared at a campaign event with him on Wednesday.
史蒂文斯女士表示，为了明年夏天与土耳其先生的婚礼，她曾与一位拉比会面，讨论皈依犹太教的可能性。
Ms. Stevens said that in anticipation of her wedding next summer to Mr. Turkish, she had met with a rabbi to discuss the possibility of converting to Judaism.
在一次午餐和随后的两次电话交谈中——其中一次是她和土耳其先生共同参与的——史蒂文斯女士表示，她感到有责任为那些担心埃尔-赛义德博士进入参议院的犹太裔选民发声。
Over lunch and in two subsequent phone calls, including one with both her and Mr. Turkish, Ms. Stevens said she felt compelled to speak out for Jewish constituents who are scared of the prospect of Dr. El-Sayed in the Senate.
“有些人受到了伤害，并且对许多不同的事情感到担忧，”她说。“由于负担能力问题，他们正在做出牺牲。犹太社群里有人说——六个月前，那是在初选期间——由于针对犹太裔民选官员住所的袭击、对其生命的袭击以及对犹太教堂的袭击，安全问题就是我们的负担能力问题。”史蒂文斯女士重申了她的主张，即她支持所有参选的民主党人，包括埃尔-赛义德博士，并且她计划投票给他。
“There’s people who are hurt and worried about a bunch of different things,” she said. “They’re making sacrifices because of affordability. Someone in the Jewish community said, — six months ago, it was during the primary — safety is our affordability issue because of attacks on Jewish elected officials’ homes, attacks to their lives, attacks on the synagogues.”Ms. Stevens repeated her assertion that she supported all Democrats running, including Dr. El-Sayed, and that she planned to vote for him.
但当被问及她是否希望他获胜时，她的态度更加谨慎。“我认为他会赢，”她回答说。再次被问及是否希望埃尔-赛义德博士获胜时，她再次回避了。“我不知道你为什么要问我这个，”她说。
But asked if she wanted him to win, she was more circumspect. “I think he’s going to win,” she replied. Asked again if she wanted Dr. El-Sayed win, she dodged again. “I don’t know why you’d ask me that,” she said.
当再次被追问她对埃尔-赛义德博士的公开批评时，她透露了更多一点。
Pressed one more time about her public criticism of Dr. El-Sayed, she offered a little more.
“我竞选的是民主党提名，其初衷是明白我希望民主党人获胜，”她说。“我和阿卜杜勒坐在一起谈了很长时间，那是在25年第一季度，在我们俩决定参选之前，我们向彼此作出了那个承诺，所以当然（希望如此）。”这并不是一次热烈的背书。
“I ran for a Democratic nomination, intent in understanding that I wanted a Democrat to win,” she said. “We sat down for a long period of time, Abdul and I did, in the first quarter of ’25, before we both decided to run, making that commitment to each other, so of course.”It was not a ringing endorsement.
但尽管罗杰斯先生对史蒂文斯女士的支持者表示欢迎，她说罗杰斯先生并没有给她打电话。然后是关于特基斯先生的问题。
But while Mr. Rogers has welcomed Ms. Stevens’s supporters, she said he had not called her. Then there is the matter of Mr. Turkish.
就在史蒂文斯女士与《纽约时报》记者共进午餐时，特基斯先生正在接受TMZ的现场直播采访。他说，如果埃尔-赛义德博士不尽快公开撇清那则关于杂货价格的广告，史蒂文斯女士将撤回对他的支持。
Even as Ms. Stevens had lunch with a New York Times reporter, Mr. Turkish was sitting for his own interview live with TMZ. He said Ms. Stevens would pull her support from Dr. El-Sayed if he did not soon disavow the grocery prices ad.
“我认为她不会再支持阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德太久了，”特基斯先生告诉TMZ。
“I don’t think she’s going to be supporting Abdul El-Sayed very much longer,” Mr. Turkish told TMZ.
在他的言论播出后，史蒂文斯女士邀请《纽约时报》记者给她回电，这一次她把特基斯先生也连线了进来。
After his comments aired, Ms. Stevens invited the Times reporter to call her back, and this time she had Mr. Turkish on the line.
她说，她的未婚夫并没有导致她改变对以色列或埃尔-赛义德博士的立场。
She said that her fiancé had not caused her to change her positions on Israel or Dr. El-Sayed.
“我觉得我改变了他的看法，”她说。“他说，‘你比我更像个犹太人。’” 在采访中，土耳其先生表示，他原本预计埃尔-赛义德博士在初选后会在以色列问题上“向中间靠拢”。他称埃尔-赛义德博士对辩论中关于伊朗和以色列问题的回答是“让我下定决心的关键”，并宣称如果埃尔-赛义德博士当选参议员，他自身的安全将受到威胁。
“I think I’ve changed his opinion,” she said. “He goes, ‘You’re more Jewish than me.’”In the interview, Mr. Turkish said he had expected Dr. El-Sayed to “move to the middle” on Israel after the primary. He called Dr. El-Sayed’s response to the debate question about Iran and Israel “the tipping point for me” and declared that his own safety would be in jeopardy if Dr. El-Sayed were elected to the Senate.
“如果阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德成为参议员，如果他坚持维持现有纲领，我觉得我在这个星球上会更不安全，”土耳其先生说。“他对那些对犹太人再次成为替罪羊抱有合理担忧的人——这种事已延续数千年——表现得如此不欢迎，以至于想到他将不仅掌舵美国政策，还将主导全球外交政策，都让我感到极度、极度焦虑。” 土耳其先生表示，他相信43岁的史蒂文斯女士在政坛仍大有可为。
“I think I’d be less safe on this planet if Abdul El-Sayed is the senator, if he is insisting on sticking to the current program,” Mr. Turkish said. “He is so unwelcoming to people who have reasonable anxieties about Jews being scapegoated once again, as they have been for thousands of years, that the idea that he will steer not just U.S. policy, but foreign policy globally, it makes me extremely, extremely anxious.”Mr. Turkish said he believed Ms. Stevens, 43, still had a bright future in politics.
“我知道还会有其他机会，”他说。“我认为如果她想再次竞选联邦参议员，她是可以的。” 尽管他是一位资深筹款人和成就卓著的律师，但土耳其先生此前并非备受追捧的政治代言人。他的背书从未成为新闻，直到现在。
“I know there’s going to be other opportunities,” he said. “I think she can run for the United States Senate again if she wants to.”Though he is a veteran fund-raiser and an accomplished lawyer, Mr. Turkish had not been a sought-after political surrogate. His endorsement had never made news before now.
但他表示，他感到有必要公开背书罗杰斯先生，并出席其竞选活动，因为他不想让自己的公众形象沦为深夜脱口秀节目中嘲弄他和史蒂文斯女士的素材。
But he said he felt compelled to make a public endorsement for Mr. Rogers and appear with him at a campaign event because he did not want his public image to be a late-night TV sendup of him and Ms. Stevens.
“我的朋友和家人都在问我到底在干什么，”土耳其先生说。“我觉得他们想从我这里听到的，比从《今夜秀》两次恶搞亮相中得到的要多。” 里德·J·埃普斯坦是《纽约时报》驻华盛顿记者，报道竞选与选举新闻。
“My friends and family members are asking me what I’m doing,” Mr. Turkish said. “I think they wanted to hear more from me than what they got off of two spoofed appearances on ‘The Tonight Show.’”Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.