Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorses Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan Senate, two days before election

Two days before Michigan voters decide which party controls the U.S. Senate, Rep. Haley Stevens stood inside Detroit's Perfecting Church on Sunday morning alongside Republican candidate Mike Rogers — the man she had once said she wanted to run against — and then posted a video endorsing him. The Democrat who narrowly lost August's primary to her own party's nominee had, in the span of a single morning, become the most disruptive figure in one of the cycle's most competitive races.

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, and that's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. I don't belong in Abdul's campaign.— Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.

The endorsement, delivered in a video under two minutes long posted to X, landed like a grenade inside the Michigan Democratic Party. Within hours, Stevens' chief of staff of eight years, Justin German, and several other staff members had resigned. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a 'despicable betrayal.' Bernie Sanders said Stevens' staff was 'right to resign in disgust.' And President Trump, speaking at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, urged her to join the Republican Party.

I'm honored to have Haley Stevens support today. I'm honored to have earned that vote. This is more a statement about standing together against hate and the future of this state and this country than it is anything else.— Mike Rogers, Republican Senate candidate

The morning's events were the culmination of a feud that had been building since Stevens' narrow primary loss to Abdul El-Sayed in August. Stevens had endorsed El-Sayed after that defeat, and top Democrats had brokered a truce between the two. But the peace unraveled last week over Israel. Stevens demanded El-Sayed publicly condemn an outside group's ad that she called antisemitic — one that linked U.S. support for Israel to higher grocery prices. El-Sayed pushed back, stating that the ad came from outside his campaign and that he disagreed with its message, while charging that Stevens was "needlessly reopening debates from a settled primary." According to multiple outlets, El-Sayed's campaign subsequently informed Stevens that she would not be welcome at any of his remaining events.

The Israel dispute was not the only fault line. Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, had already announced he would vote for Rogers and appeared at a Rogers campaign event alongside Sen. Ted Cruz. In her endorsement video, Stevens also took issue with El-Sayed's association with political streamer Hasan Piker, who had appeared alongside El-Sayed at campaign events, stating that she did not "stand with Hasan Piker, who gets trafficked on our college campuses."

Sunday had originally been planned as a show of Democratic unity. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who had helped arrange a joint appearance by Stevens and El-Sayed at a Detroit church, told CNN that she had asked Stevens to stay away after the dispute became a distraction and upset the church's bishop. El-Sayed went ahead with his church appearance — at a different Detroit location — accompanied by Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Stevens, her original plans collapsed, appeared instead at Perfecting Church with Rogers, an arrangement made at the last minute after the two spoke Sunday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter.

At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens.— Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic Senate nominee

El-Sayed, speaking to reporters outside a rally alongside Clyburn, pivoted quickly to policy. Addressing the concerns of Michigan residents, he said, "This is a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from their government," and pointed to gas prices, grocery costs, and air and water quality as his priorities. He added that his attention was fixed on "the 9,999,998 that are not the ones you guys are talking about."

The fallout inside Stevens' own office was swift. German, her chief of staff, put out a statement on behalf of the departing team expressing full support for El-Sayed: "As Haley Stevens' Chief of Staff for eight years, I speak on behalf of our team in wholeheartedly supporting Abdul El-Sayed for Senate. This election is too important to sow division or stand on the sidelines. We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens' decision to support Mike Rogers." Her communications director, Logan Basch, was also among those who left, according to CNN.

Rep. Haley Stevens' staff is right to resign in disgust. They understand that the election in Michigan is far more important than Haley's fragile ego and that all of us must stand together to elect Abdul, defeat Rogers and end the Republican rubber-stamp control of the Senate.— Sen. Bernie Sanders

Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel went further, writing on X that Stevens "is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future." In a separate statement, Hertel said her decision to campaign with Rogers — "a man who has repeatedly sold out Michigan's working class, wants to pass a national abortion ban, and has pledged to be a loyal vote for Trump's agenda" — showed she had "abandoned everything she claims to care about."

We are dismayed that Congresswoman Haley Stevens has revealed herself to be a sellout who used Black Michiganders for a political stunt.— Virgie Rollins, Democratic National Committee Black Caucus Chair

Trump, whose policies Stevens has a page on her congressional website dedicated to opposing, praised her at his Iowa rally. "I don't know Haley. I've never met Haley, but Haley said what few people are willing to say," Trump said. He went on to say he would welcome her joining the Republican Party, adding, "Actually, I think that could happen, maybe." He also posted on social media that Stevens showed "great and almost unprecedented loyalty" to Michigan.

Appearing Sunday night on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Stevens described the endorsement as "a weight off my shoulders" and said her decision came down to "Abdul getting angrier and angrier." Although Cooper pressed her repeatedly on what specifically had shifted her position — given that she had told CNN just days earlier she would vote for El-Sayed — Stevens offered no concrete answer. Dingell, who appeared on the same program immediately after Stevens, said she had spoken with Stevens "multiple times" and that Stevens had assured her "multiple times" she would not endorse Rogers. Dingell described watching the interview as among the most painful experiences she could recall and said she had been worried about Stevens throughout the previous week.

The race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters will be decided Tuesday. It is widely viewed as one of the most competitive Senate contests of the cycle and a potential tipping point for chamber control. Rogers' campaign has been working to peel away Black and Jewish voters in a tight contest, and Stevens' appearance at the church — recorded in a video posted by Detroit journalist Sam Robinson — gives the Republican a vivid closing image to carry into election day, regardless of what it ultimately means for the result.

Stevens, for her part, insisted she remains a Democrat. "I'm still a very proud Democrat," she said in her endorsement video. She went on to say that the vast majority of her votes — ninety percent — would go to Democrats, and that her Senate vote, like that of every Michigander, was hers alone to cast. That vote, she said, would go to Mike Rogers, explaining: "Because we have to stand with country."

Why it matters — The Michigan Senate race is considered one of the most competitive of the cycle and a potential deciding factor in which party controls the Senate — and a sitting Democratic congresswoman's last-minute endorsement of the Republican nominee, two days out, reshapes the closing argument for both campaigns.

Sources differ on Whether Stevens told Rep. Debbie Dingell she would not endorse Rogers: Dingell says Stevens told her 'multiple times' she would not endorse Rogers. (nbcnews.com) vs Stevens, pressed by CNN's Anderson Cooper, did not point to anything specific that changed her mind and did not say whether she told Dingell she would not endorse Rogers. (nbcnews.com)

Reported by axios.com, theguardian.com, thehill.com, pbs.org, nbcnews.com, foxnews.com, abcnews.com, politico.com