Haley Stevens Endorses Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate Race
The Democratic congresswoman, who lost Michigan's August primary to Abdul El-Sayed, announced her support for the Republican on Sunday, two days before Election Day. Party leaders condemned the move. El-Sayed brushed it off.
Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the U.S. Senate on Sunday, two days before Election Day. Stevens is a Democrat. She lost Michigan's Democratic primary in August to Abdul El-Sayed, the party's nominee.
Stevens announced the endorsement in a video posted on social media. She had appeared earlier Sunday with Rogers at a church service at Perfecting Church on Detroit's east side. She attended with her fiancé, while El-Sayed campaigned elsewhere with Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, as planned.
“I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” Stevens said in the video. “I’m still a very proud Democrat.” She said she did not stand with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned with El-Sayed and drawn criticism during the race over his comments about Israel and Jewish Americans.
Stevens had endorsed El-Sayed right after the primary. Her August 5 statement warned that Trump and Rogers wanted Democrats to come out of the primary “tired and divided.” She said then that she would not let Rogers “walk away with this Senate seat.” The two did not campaign together in the months that followed.
How the break happened
The two had been working toward a joint appearance days before the election. Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, helped negotiate it. That effort fell apart on October 30.
Stevens released a statement that day calling on El-Sayed to condemn an ad from Rebellion PAC, a political action committee founded by commentator Cenk Uygur. The ad blamed voters' cost-of-living concerns on aid sent to Israel and closed with an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. El-Sayed's campaign said it had nothing to do with the ad. Stevens said that did not go far enough and called on El-Sayed to apologize for his own rhetoric criticizing U.S. funding to Israel.
El-Sayed accused Stevens of relitigating a primary she lost. His campaign then asked her not to attend its final events, to avoid a distraction. Stevens told CNN on Sunday that she woke up “clear-eyed, fresh, and focused on what was in my heart, and that's that.”
Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, had already endorsed Rogers in late October and attended a campaign event with him. Rogers has courted Stevens' supporters since the August primary, which El-Sayed won by less than one percentage point.
What each side said
Rogers said at a news conference with Stevens on Sunday that he was proud to earn her vote. “Candidly, I'm glad I'm not running against Haley Stevens today,” he said.
El-Sayed said he was not interested in discussing the endorsement. “I actually don't think about Haley Stevens,” he told reporters. “I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all.” He has said his campaign is focused on gas, groceries, schools and health care. In an August statement, he said his commitment to Jewish safety was the same as his commitment to the safety of his own daughters, and called antisemitism a scourge.
Democratic leaders condemned Stevens' move. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a despicable betrayal” and said Senate Democrats were united behind El-Sayed. Retiring Sen. Gary Peters, whose seat is at stake, said he was extremely disappointed. Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens “is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future.”
Stevens' chief of staff, Justin German, said he and many members of her team had resigned ahead of the endorsement. He said the team supported El-Sayed. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said Stevens had told him the night before that she planned to vote the full Democratic ticket, and that he was dumbfounded by the reversal.
President Donald Trump praised the endorsement and urged Stevens to join the Republican Party. He called her a “Highly Respected Democrat” and described the move as brave.
Why the race matters
The seat is open. Peters is retiring. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control. If Democrats lose this seat, they would need five.
More than two million people had already voted in Michigan before Sunday, about 29 percent of the state's active registered voters. Voters decide Tuesday, November 3. Whether Stevens' endorsement moves any of them is an open question. Her own former staff and party leaders spent Sunday arguing it should not.
