Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens faced a tense grilling from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper after abruptly endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, leaving unanswered questions about what prompted her dramatic break with her party’s nominee.
In a Sunday night interview, Stevens repeatedly struggled to explain why she reversed her position after previously assuring fellow Democrats that she would support Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat who defeated her in the August Senate primary.
The endorsement, announced Sunday, November 1, came less than 48 hours before Election Day and stunned Democrats who believed Stevens was still committed to helping El-Sayed defeat Rogers.
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Stevens described her decision as a relief, telling Cooper it was a “weight off” her shoulders. She blamed growing tensions with El-Sayed and said she felt increasingly unwelcome in his campaign.
“Abdul has been getting angrier and angrier,” Stevens said, adding that an advertisement criticizing U.S. support for Israel had been particularly painful.
She also complained that Democrats who wanted to support the nominee were being made to feel unwelcome in his campaign.
But when Cooper pressed her to identify exactly what happened between Saturday night, when she reportedly reaffirmed her support for El-Sayed, and Sunday morning, when she contacted Rogers about an endorsement, Stevens offered few specifics.
At one point, she became visibly frustrated with the questioning.
“It sounds like you’re upset with me too, Anderson,” she told Cooper.
“You’re not really answering any of my questions, so it’s kind of frustrating,” Cooper responded.
The disagreement followed a series of public clashes over El-Sayed’s position on Israel and an advertisement from an outside political group that Stevens considered antisemitic.
The advertisement connected U.S. assistance to Israel with the rising cost of living in Michigan. Stevens demanded that El-Sayed publicly reject the advertisement and address what she viewed as antisemitic messaging.
El-Sayed subsequently rejected the advertisement’s claims. However, the disagreement continued, with Stevens also criticizing his association with political commentator Hasan Piker.
According to Axios, Stevens and Rogers spoke Sunday morning about the possibility of an endorsement. The two then appeared together at Perfecting Church in Detroit, where Stevens praised Rogers and announced her support.
The decision was particularly surprising because Stevens had previously endorsed El-Sayed after narrowly losing the Democratic primary to him in August. She had also publicly reiterated her intention to vote for the Democratic ticket as recently as the previous week.
Despite backing Rogers, Stevens insisted during her CNN interview that she still considers herself a Democrat and wants Democrats to win control of the Senate.
She also criticized Republicans, arguing that their focus was on allowing Trump to exercise authoritarian power rather than addressing the country’s problems.
But her endorsement created an immediate political headache for Democrats, who are trying to hold their coalition together ahead of Election Day.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who had been in contact with Stevens throughout the dispute, expressed concern about her colleague during a CNN segment following the interview.
“That was one of the most painful interviews I’ve ever watched,” Dingell said.
She added that she had been worried about Stevens throughout the previous week, emphasizing that she was concerned about her as a person.
Democratic strategists David Axelrod and Van Jones also expressed concern about Stevens’ appearance. Axelrod described her as someone who appeared to be struggling, while Jones said she had seemed at peace with her decision when he spoke with her Saturday.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, celebrated Stevens’ endorsement. He praised her on Truth Social, describing her decision as an act of bravery and loyalty to Michigan. Trump also suggested at an Iowa campaign appearance that he would welcome her into the Republican Party.
El-Sayed declined to spend much time discussing Stevens’ decision when reporters questioned him outside a Detroit church following a Souls to the Polls event Sunday.
“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he said.
Instead, El-Sayed pointed to the millions of Michigan residents dealing with rising grocery costs, expensive gasoline and concerns about their communities.
“I’m just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all,” he said.
The Michigan Senate contest now heads into Election Day with an increasingly public divide among Democrats. Stevens’ endorsement gives Rogers a prominent Democratic voice supporting his campaign, while El-Sayed continues working to persuade voters that he can represent the state in the Senate.
Stevens has not provided a detailed explanation identifying one specific incident that caused her to change her endorsement. Her CNN interview instead highlighted the unresolved tensions between the two Democrats and left voters with questions about what happened behind the scenes.
