Democrat Haley Stevens Endorses Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate Race, Two Days Before the Election
A sitting Democratic congresswoman who lost her party's Michigan Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed crossed party lines on Sunday and endorsed his Republican opponent — in a race that could help decide which party controls the Senate.
Two days before an election that will decide control of Congress, Michigan's Senate race produced the kind of defection campaigns almost never see. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat who lost her party's Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August, endorsed his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, on Sunday, according to USA TODAY's reporting read by this desk — appearing with Rogers at a church service in Detroit and announcing the endorsement in a social-media video the same day.
Stevens had been expected at a joint church event with El-Sayed and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina. Instead, after El-Sayed's campaign asked her not to attend last-minute campaigning — following her Oct. 30 statement calling on him to condemn an outside group's ad — she went to Perfecting Church on Detroit's east side with Rogers and his wife. In her video, as reported, she said El-Sayed had made clear she was no longer welcome in his campaign: "I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," she said, while calling herself "a very proud Democrat." AFP's account, also read this run, put her primary loss at a single percentage point.
The reaction from her own party was immediate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a "despicable betrayal" and said Senate Democrats were united in support of El-Sayed. Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens was no longer a member of the party. Her longtime chief of staff, Justin German, said he and many members of her team had resigned ahead of the announcement. President Trump, who has attacked El-Sayed throughout the fall, welcomed the endorsement and praised Stevens.
El-Sayed, asked about the endorsement on Sunday, said he was less interested in the campaign back-and-forth than in the cost of living and the issues voters raise with him, according to the live coverage read this run. The stakes explain the fury: Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, Michigan's open seat is one of the handful of races both parties rate as genuine toss-ups, and most public polling has given El-Sayed a narrow lead going into Tuesday. Whether a former rival's endorsement moves voters in 48 hours is unknowable tonight — but in a race this close, both campaigns will spend those hours acting as if it might.
