A Surprise Switch Days Before the Vote
"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," Stevens said in a video posted to X shortly after the appearance. "Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now," she added. "That's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers."
The move stunned many fellow Democrats, who condemned her decision to switch sides just two days before the election. Many of her staff reportedly resigned right after the announcement. Curtis Hertel, chair of the Democratic Party in Michigan, said it "shows that she has abandoned everything she claims to care about," and accused Stevens and "bad-faith actors" of trying to divide the party. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called it "a despicable betrayal."
The public feud between Stevens, a centrist, and El-Sayed, who represents the party's left wing, had boiled over in recent days. Stevens urged 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 it. Stevens was due to appear with him on Sunday to show party unity, but he reportedly asked her not to come, and she went to a church service with Rogers instead. "Abdul made clear that I was not welcome in his campaign," she told reporters beside Rogers. Asked about the endorsement, El-Sayed said, "I don't think about Haley Stevens. None of this matters."
Rogers welcomed the backing and said it showed "courage." President Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in Iowa, called her "very brave." He said he had never met her but that she "said what few people were willing to say," adding that he would love her to join the Republican Party.
What Is at Stake
Analysts consider this one of the tightest races in Tuesday's midterm elections, and one of a handful of battlegrounds that will decide control of the Senate. The seat is held by a retiring Democrat, and the last Republican elected to it won in 1994. In presidential races, though, Michigan is a key swing state, voting for Joe Biden in 2020 and Donald Trump in 2024. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake the Senate. Losing Michigan would be a major blow and leave them needing to flip five.
Voters in downtown Detroit had mixed reactions. Summer Lawrence, a 21-year-old student, said she doesn't understand it and called it a betrayal of the party. Matthew Barera suggested Stevens may have had frustrations with the party. Marissa Lee, a Rogers supporter, said people "can see right through her actions" and that she won't change anyone's mind.
Over the weekend, several Michigan Democrats had urged Stevens to end the feud and back the party's candidates more directly. The clash also highlights divisions over the party's direction ahead of the 2028 presidential election. El-Sayed, a former public health official and the son of Egyptian immigrants, has tapped grassroots frustration with Washington politics and US ties to Israel. Stevens, a more centrist Democrat, had the backing of figures such as Governor Gretchen Whitmer during the primary.
