“The View” co-host Sara Haines defended Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., during a discussion on Monday about the Democrat’s decision to endorse Michigan Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, pushing back against critics who called the endorsement a betrayal.
Co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro both argued that Stevens endorsed Rogers for the wrong reasons, with Hostin saying, “Shame on her,” if the move was motivated by a bruised ego. Stevens said during an interview on Sunday that it was El-Sayed’s “anger” and “lack of kindness” that led her to endorse Rogers.
“I disagree. And I actually think that, although there’s a lot of Islamophobia here that are muddying the waters, there are deep concerns about his beliefs,” Haines said. “Campaigning with Hasan Piker, you could not put enough room between me and that man. And we went after the Republicans for going around with Nick Fuentes, also problematic.”
“We have got to know when we denounce someone,” she continued. “And if crossing party lines can be an act of conscience for Liz Cheney, I don’t know why the automatic response was that this was betrayal somehow.”
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Haines, a registered independent, said Stevens’ decision was “brave.”
“Integrity is not just backing your party when you support your party,” the co-host added. “The real test is backing them when it costs you something. I keep hearing, ‘Donald Trump is so dangerous,’ and that is true, but that can’t end every conversation we have about what we’re willing to accept on our own sides.”
“Honestly, the hateful rhetoric and demeaning language, I don’t have to agree with a candidate on everything at all, and compromise is absolutely necessary, but you cannot loan your loyalty and support out to a party,” Haines continued. “They must earn it every single time. And that’s why this was actually a very brave thing for her to do.”
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Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Haines’s defense is hard to square with the facts. I was one of the early Democrats who said El-Sayed needed to put real distance between himself and Hasan Piker. And he did. He said Piker did not speak for his campaign, stopped campaigning with him, and reportedly even called him directly to say his rhetoric was hurting the campaign and counterproductive. That all happened well before Haley Stevens’s last-minute endorsement.”
“So Haines is using an issue El-Sayed already addressed to excuse this wild switch-up, while openly acknowledging the Islamophobia on the other side and then instantly brushing past it,” he added.
Shroff argued that Haines was treating hate from one side as disqualifying, but not the other, and said, “That is not principled, balanced, or reasonable. It is just a glaring double standard.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg brought up the timing of the endorsement as Haines argued that El-Sayed had also told Stevens he did not want her to campaign with him.
Navarro reiterated that she believed Stevens’ decision was motivated by El-Sayed’s reluctance to have her at the event.
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Fellow co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said that Stevens had raised “real issues” about antisemitism.
Griffin also compared Stevens endorsing Rogers with Liz Cheney endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris earlier in the segment.
“We shouldn’t just praise independents when Liz Cheney breaks with Republicans, because she thinks that’s the principled position. If this woman feels this is the principled position for her, she has every right to do that,” Griffin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Shroff argued the Cheney comparison did not hold up, telling Fox News Digital, “Cheney crossed party lines because of Trump’s conduct and her stated concerns about democracy. Stevens, by contrast, says she is crossing party lines because she cannot tolerate hate, yet she is endorsing Mike Rogers in a race where anti-Muslim hate has been Rogers’s central campaign strategy.”
“Moreover, Haley still maintains that Republicans — folks like Mike Rogers — are allowing Trump to act as a ‘dictator.’ It just doesn’t add up any way you try,” he said.