Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat who lost the party's US Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday, two days before the midterm election. Stevens made the announcement in a video posted to X after appearing with Rogers outside a church. "I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," she said. "Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now."
Stevens had called on El-Sayed to denounce a campaign advert from an outside liberal group that linked US support for Israel with high prices. El-Sayed criticised the advert and said he had nothing to do with its contents. The source reports that El-Sayed asked Stevens not to attend a planned Sunday event meant to show party unity, and she went to the church service with Rogers instead. Stevens told reporters, "Abdul made clear that I was not welcome in his campaign."
El-Sayed told reporters, "At the end of the day, I don't think about Haley Stevens. None of this matters."
Rogers welcomed the endorsement and called it an act of "courage." President Donald Trump praised Stevens as "very brave" at a rally in Iowa and said he would like her to join the Republican Party.
Democrats criticized the move. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it "a despicable betrayal." Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said her decision "shows that she has abandoned everything she claims to care about." The source says many of Stevens' staff resigned after her announcement.
The source describes the Michigan Senate race as one of the tightest in Tuesday's midterms. The seat is held by a retiring Democrat. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win Senate control, and a loss in Michigan would require them to flip five.