Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens has thrown her support behind Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, publicly endorsing her party’s opponent just two days before Election Day after a bitter falling-out with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
Stevens announced her decision in a video posted to X on Sunday, November 1, after appearing alongside Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit. The endorsement marks a dramatic break from her previous pledge to support the Democratic nominee following her narrow defeat in the August primary.
“He’s right, and that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers,” Stevens said in the video, referring to El-Sayed’s reported decision to tell her she was no longer welcome at his campaign events.
The political news that affects your wallet, your rights and your vote, broken down in plain language. Free in your inbox.
Stevens also criticized political commentator Hasan Piker, who campaigned alongside El-Sayed during the Democratic primary. She argued that the Democratic nominee’s current political messaging does not represent the values Michigan families should be teaching their children.
“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.
The endorsement followed an unexpected appearance with Rogers at the Detroit church. Journalist Sam Robinson of the Michigan Chronicle recorded Stevens praising the Republican candidate’s position on investments in Black-owned businesses.
“That is a policy that Mike is going to take on,” Stevens said before the service.
Stevens and her fiancé, Jason Turkish, were also photographed sitting alongside Rogers and his wife inside the church.
The public break with El-Sayed follows several days of escalating tensions over an advertisement produced by Rebellion PAC, a liberal outside political group. The advertisement connected U.S. military support for Israel to rising grocery prices, drawing criticism from Stevens, who characterized its message as antisemitic.
El-Sayed said his campaign had nothing to do with producing the advertisement and subsequently criticized its contents. On Saturday, Stevens released a statement welcoming his criticism of the commercial, although she did not mention him by name.
The disagreement intensified after Turkish announced last week that he planned to vote for Rogers, citing concerns about El-Sayed’s positions on Israel.
Stevens initially maintained that she remained committed to supporting the Democratic nominee despite her fiancé’s decision. In an interview earlier in the week, she described their household as politically divided and said she wanted El-Sayed to win.
That position changed Sunday.
The two Democrats had originally been scheduled to attend a Detroit church event alongside Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina as part of a get-out-the-vote effort. However, El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens not to attend after her public criticism of his handling of the Rebellion PAC advertisement.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who helped organize the planned appearance, also said she had asked Stevens to stay away because the dispute was becoming a distraction from the campaign’s closing message.
El-Sayed was scheduled to appear with Clyburn at another Detroit church Sunday afternoon for a Souls to the Polls event, an effort encouraging voters to participate in early voting and Election Day.
Stevens’ endorsement gives Rogers a prominent Democratic voice supporting his campaign at a critical moment in the Senate contest. Rogers, a former Republican congressman, is challenging El-Sayed for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
The dispute also reflects continuing divisions among Democrats over U.S. policy toward Israel and the war in Gaza. El-Sayed has described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide and called for an end to unconditional U.S. military assistance to Israel. Stevens has taken a different position on the issue.
Those disagreements were already a major source of conflict during the Democratic primary, which El-Sayed narrowly won on August 4.
Stevens, who gave up her congressional seat to pursue the Senate nomination, will not appear on Tuesday’s ballot. Her endorsement of Rogers, however, places her at odds with the Democratic candidate seeking to represent her party in one of the country’s closely watched Senate contests.
Rogers’ campaign welcomed the appearance. Campaign spokeswoman Abby Ronson posted a photograph of Rogers and Stevens together on X with the message, “We have a state to save, Michigan.”
Stevens continued to describe herself as a Democrat in her Sunday video, saying, “I’m still a very proud Democrat; I still very much believe in everything I voted for and said.”
The Senate race now heads into its final stretch with the public disagreement between the Democratic nominee and his former primary opponent becoming a prominent feature of the campaign.
