Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville unleashed a profanity-filled attack on Rep. Haley Stevens on Sunday after the Michigan congresswoman stunned her own party by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers over Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed just two days before Election Day.
Carville, known for his fiery political commentary, released a YouTube video hours after Stevens announced her decision, accusing her of throwing away her political future and comparing her endorsement to selling her soul for a cheeseburger.
“I think El-Sayed offered her one cheeseburger and Rogers offered her two cheeseburgers, and in the spirit of John Fetterman, sh*t, gimme another cheeseburger and I’ll give ya my soul!” Carville said.
“I mean, lady, if you’re going to sell your soul, you gotta get more for it than a f*ckin’ cheeseburger, okay!”
But Carville was far from finished.
“You gotta put some kind of a price on yourself, or [have] some kind of God damn self-pride. But your political career is over,” he continued.
He then delivered an even more graphic attack, saying Republicans would regard Stevens as “a used condom” and arguing that Democrats had little reason to welcome her back.
“You made your bed, sleep in it. You sh*t in your mess kit, eat it,” Carville added.
His remarks came amid a political uproar in Michigan, where Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed in August, unexpectedly appeared alongside Rogers at a Detroit church service and announced that she was endorsing the Republican.
Stevens had previously supported El-Sayed following their contentious primary contest. The relationship deteriorated in recent days over disagreements about Israel, the rhetoric of political streamer Hasan Piker and an outside advertisement criticizing U.S. financial support for Israel.
Stevens had demanded that El-Sayed condemn the advertisement, which depicted a family struggling with grocery costs while criticizing American support for Israel. El-Sayed’s campaign distanced itself from the ad.
The dispute intensified when El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens not to attend his remaining campaign events, including a planned unity appearance.
Stevens cited the exclusion and her disagreements with El-Sayed when explaining her decision to back Rogers.
“We have to stand with country. We can’t stand with hate,” she told reporters. “We can’t stand with Hasan Piker.”
The endorsement triggered an immediate backlash from Democratic leaders and members of Stevens’s own staff.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the decision a “despicable betrayal,” while Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel criticized Stevens for abandoning the party’s nominee in a closely contested race.
Several members of Stevens’s congressional team, including her longtime chief of staff, resigned following the announcement.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, praised Stevens for her decision, describing her move as an act of political bravery.
El-Sayed largely declined to engage in the escalating personal dispute, telling reporters that his focus remained on Michigan residents concerned about everyday issues rather than the political controversy surrounding Stevens.
For Carville, however, the endorsement was not simply another disagreement between former primary rivals.
His video portrayed Stevens’s decision as a fundamental break with the party she had represented in Congress, and he argued that the political consequences would follow her long after Election Day.
Whether his prediction about her career proves accurate remains unknown. But his remarks added another prominent voice to the fierce reaction that followed Stevens’s unexpected endorsement.
About the Author
I stand with James