众议员海莉·斯蒂文斯（民主党-密歇根州）周日在与CNN主持人安德森·库珀的一次紧张采访中，为她支持密歇根州参议院候选人迈克·罗杰斯（共和党人）而非民主党人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德的背书行为进行了辩护。斯蒂文斯在一场激烈的初选中败给了埃尔赛义德，她周六晚间在一次电话中向众议员黛比·丁格尔（民主党-密歇根州）保证，她支持埃尔赛义德，此前这位资深议员曾要求斯蒂文斯不要在周日早上与该候选人参加教会活动。
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) on Sunday defended her endorsement of Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers (R) over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a tense interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in a bitter primary, had assured Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in a phone call Saturday night that she supported El-Sayed after the senior lawmaker asked Stevens not to attend a church event with the candidate Sunday morning. Cooper asked Stevens what had changed overnight.
库珀询问斯蒂文斯，一夜之间发生了什么变化。“嗯，听着，这对我来说真是卸下了一块石头，好吗？”斯蒂文斯说。“阿卜杜勒越来越生气了。我本想帮忙，我背书支持他……有太多民主党人想为我们的民主党候选人投票。而他们却被告知，‘嘿，这个党派不适合你，’或者‘这个竞选活动不适合你。’” “我从未在国会投过弃权票，”她继续说道。
"Well, look, this is just a weight off my shoulders, OK?" Stevens said. "Abdul has been getting angrier and angrier. I was trying to help, I endorsed him ... There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee. And they're just being told, 'Hey, this is a party you don't belong in,' or 'This is a campaign you don't belong in.'" "And I've never cast a present vote in the Congress," she continued.
“我在这里做出了决定，这就是我的立场。我今天早上醒来，头脑清醒，精神焕发，专注于内心所想，就是这样。”库珀追问斯蒂文斯关于那次电话的事。这位议员说，她“当时不觉得电话打得那么晚，但我知道黛比总是不停地工作。”她说，她当时“心中想着她”并“在写东西”，然后才提到“这种愤怒程度，以及我们所看到的事情。”
"I'm making a decision here and that's just where I landed on this. I woke up this morning, clear-eyed, fresh and focused on what was in my heart, and that's that." Cooper pressed Stevens about the phone call. The lawmaker said she "wasn't on the phone I think that late, but I know Debbie's always working around the clock." She said she was "with [her] thoughts" and "writing things out" before bringing up "this level of anger, and the things that we are seeing."
她表示对政党的忠诚，并说“在我这里什么都没变，安德森。”库珀再次追问他的问题。“哦，安德森，你肯定当时不在我的电话里，我也不觉得我当时在电话里，”斯蒂文斯说。“但我非常尊重丁格尔众议员，你知道，她是一位支柱……”库珀重复了两次问题，斯蒂文斯继续说话，随后库珀对发生的事情进行了背景说明，并第三次提出了问题。“安德森，这是关于我们政党内部发生的事情的一个更广泛的观点，”斯蒂文斯说。
She stated her loyalty to the party and said "nothing with me changed, Anderson." Cooper pressed her again on his question. "Oh Anderson, you certainly weren't on the phone with me at midnight, and I don't think I was on the phone either," Stevens said. "But I have great respect for Congresswoman Dingell, and you know, she is a pillar..." Cooper repeated the question twice as Stevens continued speaking before contextualizing what happened and asking the question a third time. "Anderson, this is a broader point about what's going on in our party," Stevens said.
“这其实不是，只是关于你为什么会改变主意的问题，”库珀插话道。斯蒂文斯说她还没有投票，这促使库珀问道：“所以你可能会再次改变主意？”斯蒂文斯说她的心意已经“下定了”，并且她仍然非常喜爱民主党。库珀随后指出斯蒂文斯在社交平台X上的一篇帖子，该帖子反对在11月给“MAGA再多一个参议院席位”，并问道“为什么现在可以了？”
"It's actually not, it's just a question about why you would change your mind," Cooper interjected. Stevens said she has not cast her vote yet, prompting Cooper to ask, "So you might change your mind again?" Stevens said her mind was "made up" and that she still loves the Democratic Party "a whole lot." Cooper then pointed to a post on the social platform X from Stevens against giving "MAGA another Senate seat in November" and asked "why is it OK now?"
“嗯，为什么民主党及其顶级提名人驱逐——你知道，这种人，或者说，注入这种愤怒和缺乏善意是可以的呢？仅此而已，”斯蒂文斯回答道，随后又说库珀听起来对她很不高兴。“不，我没有，”他说。“你真的没有回答我的任何问题，这有点令人沮丧。”来回交锋持续进行，斯蒂文斯表示她无法认可埃尔赛德与左翼主播哈桑·皮克一起竞选，并指出皮克及其叔叔、《年轻土耳其人》联合创始人塞恩克·尤古尔的言论，作为人们对埃尔赛德竞选“感到受伤”的原因。
"Well, why is it OK to have the Democratic Party, and a top nominee, ejecting –– you know, this type, or injecting, rather, this type of anger and lack of kindness? That's all," Stevens replied, before later saying it sounded like Cooper was upset with her. "No, I'm not," he said. "You're really not answering any of my questions so it's somewhat frustrating." The back-and-forth continued, with Stevens saying she could not condone El-Sayed campaigning with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker and pointed to comments made by him and Piker's uncle, "The Young Turks" co-founder Cenk Uygur, as reason for people to "feel hurt" by El-Sayed's campaign.
“听着，我感激大家对我如何做决定以及如何走到这一步的所有反思，”斯蒂文斯在某个时刻说道。库珀询问了斯蒂文斯国会办公室工作人员因她的背书而离职一事。她称她的团队“非常出色”，并说自己正处于“过渡期”，因为她将在任期结束时离任。“这些都是我非常关心的优秀人才，当然，他们有权就此事发表自己的看法，”她说。
"Look, I appreciate all the introspection on how I make my decisions and how I reached this moment," Stevens at one point said. Cooper asked about staffers leaving Stevens's congressional office over the endorsement. She called her team "incredible" and that she was "under transition," as she is leaving at the end of her term. "These are great individuals who I care a lot about and, certainly, they're free to share their views on this," she said.
“我不是想让任何人不高兴。”斯蒂文斯对特朗普总统对她背书的赞扬不予置评，并告诉库珀她曾两次投票弹劾总统。采访出现了一段长时间的停顿，随后斯蒂文斯指责库珀在发表评论，而他正在询问她关于那通电话的问题。采访不久后结束。
"I am not trying to upset anyone." Stevens dismissed President Trump's praise toward her endorsement, telling Cooper that she voted to impeach the president twice. The interview reached a long pause, followed by Stevens accusing Cooper of editorializing while he asked her about the call again. The interview ended shortly after.
丁格尔随后发言，称库珀与斯蒂文斯的采访是“我看过的最痛苦的采访之一”。她说，背书引发的这一系列事件“都变成了干扰”，但“正在适得其反”，并表示埃尔赛德“今天筹集了更多资金，超过一百万美元”。库珀询问两人是否通话。丁格尔说，他们周六晚间通了话，并称许多人周日早上看到新闻时“感到尴尬”。他询问这位资深立法者，斯蒂文斯在电话中是否表示不会背书支持罗杰斯。
Dingell appeared next, calling the interview between Cooper and Stevens "one of the most painful interviews I have ever watched." She said that the flurry since the endorsement "has all become a distraction" but that it was "backfiring," saying El-Sayed has "raised more money today, more than a million dollars." Cooper asked if the two spoke. Dingell said they spoke late Saturday night and said many others "were embarrassed" by the news on Sunday morning. He asked the senior lawmaker if Stevens said on their phone call that she was not going to endorse Rogers.
“是的，她说了，”丁格尔说。“说了多次。”丁格尔说她“爱”斯蒂文斯，作为立法者与她的运作方式不同，并强调竞选路上出现的分歧。但她敦促民主党人投票给本党候选人。“说到底，我原本以为阿卜杜勒会赢，但今天下午外出时，像我一贯所做的那样，我感觉到了转变，”她说。“所以，我认为这场竞选将非常胶着。任何观看的人都不应该认为自己不该去投票站，认为自己的票不重要——但我认为今天是非常艰难的一天，许多人观看时感到非常痛苦。”
"Yes, she did," Dingell said. "Multiple times." Dingell said she "loves" Stevens and operates differently than her as a lawmaker and emphasized the division seen on the campaign trail. But she urged Democrats to vote for their party candidates. "By the end of the day, I thought Abdul was going to win, but I felt a shift just being out, as I always am, this afternoon," she said. "So, I think this race is going to be close. Anybody watching should not think that they shouldn't go to the polls, that their votes don't matter –– but I think it's been a very difficult day and it's been very painful for many people to watch."