The fiancé of Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens says he will vote for Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race, breaking with his party over concerns about Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s rhetoric and political associations.

Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat and attorney, announced his decision Wednesday and attended a Republican Jewish Coalition event supporting Rogers in Birmingham. His announcement comes less than a week before the election.

Turkish told Jewish Insider he decided to support Rogers after the first general-election debate, citing El-Sayed’s comparison of the threats posed by Israel and Iran. He also criticized El-Sayed’s campaign appearances with streamer Hasan Piker and his response to an outside group’s advertisement linking aid to Israel with higher grocery prices.

Turkish said he “couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t speak up.” He described his decision as putting country before party while continuing to support other Democrats on the ballot.

The advertisement was not produced by El-Sayed’s campaign, which has distanced itself from it. Turkish argued that the candidate should explicitly condemn its message. El-Sayed has denounced antisemitism while remaining sharply critical of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Responding to Turkish’s announcement, El-Sayed emphasized his effort to unite voters, saying people with different opinions were entitled to them: “That’s the beauty of democracy,” The Hill reported.

Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed, reaffirmed Wednesday that she intends to vote for him. However, she urged him to condemn the outside advertisement and remove a separate campaign ad featuring Tucker Carlson’s criticism of Rogers.

Turkish is the second prominent figure close to Stevens to announce support for Rogers in recent days. Her former Senate campaign chair, attorney David Kramer, also said he would vote Republican in the contest to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.