Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday, breaking publicly with her party’s own nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, days before Michigan voters head to the polls in a closely watched U.S. Senate race.
Stevens announced the endorsement on X after appearing alongside Rogers at Perfecting Church, a Black congregation in Detroit, earlier that morning. The two arrived separately but embraced warmly before the service.
“Hey Michigan, as you may have seen, our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away, and he’s right. That’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United State Senate today. I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign. I do not stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses,” Stevens said. “A dear friend of mine earlier today was saying that education is on the ballot and she is absolutely right. What our students see, what our children see, and who we are as Michiganders is not hate. And is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now.”
Stevens said she remains a “proud Democrat” who stands by what she has campaigned and voted for, and said she wanted to “declare who we are as Michiganders.”
A Fast Unraveling
The rupture between Stevens and El-Sayed came together quickly after she had backed his campaign following a contentious Democratic primary. According to the New York Times and Politico, El-Sayed’s campaign told Stevens to stay away from its remaining events after she called on him to disavow an anti-Israel ad. Earlier in the week, Stevens’ fiancé, who is Jewish, said publicly he intended to vote for Rogers.
Stevens had been slated as late as Friday to appear at a campaign event alongside South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and El-Sayed. After El-Sayed’s camp told her to stay away, an adviser to Clyburn said flatly, “This is not Abdul’s event.”
The endorsement marks an extraordinary turn in a Senate race that has exposed sharp divisions within the Michigan Democratic Party just as voters prepare to decide between Rogers and El-Sayed for the seat.
Add comment