U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a lifelong Democrat who narrowly lost a bitterly acrimonious fight for her party’s U.S. Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers this morning in a move that set Michigan politics ablaze.
Stevens, in a post to her X account about an hour after she arrived at a Detroit church to attend services with Rogers, said she is still a Democrat but cannot support El-Sayed, whom she previously endorsed.
“I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate,” she said. “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign.”
Stevens faulted El-Sayed for having campaigned during the primary with Hasan Piker, who once said America “deserved 9/11” and has virulently criticized Israel. El-Sayed repudiated Piker’s 9/11 comment. Piker last week likened West Bloomfield, which has a large Jewish population, to a Ku Klux Klan community. El-Sayed also condemned those remarks and has not appeared with Piker since the day of the August primary.
“Who we are as Michiganders is not hate, and it’s not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now,” she said.
Photos and videos of Stevens hugging Rogers in the church lobby and making positive comments about the man she repeatedly criticized during the Democratic primary two days before the Nov. 3 contest set off a mushroom cloud ahead oftwo days before Election Day.
Stevens swiftly endorsed El-Sayed after he won the primary and appeared fully behind him. She praised El-Sayed at the time and gave several interviews in which she offered warm support. This was despite a primary in which the personal loathing El-Sayed and Stevens held for each other was obvious.
However, those tensions resurfaced this week.
A third party video – it’s been called an “ad,” but data from AdImpact shows a paltry $1,533 was spent on it – blaming Israel for high grocery prices seemed to crack the door for the tensions to resurface. Stevens’ fiance, who is Jewish, endorsed Rogers. Stevens then gave an interview in which she said her household was divided and she still supported El-Sayed.
Then she issued a rambling statement making demands about the conditions under which she would attend a “unity” event with El-Sayed on Sunday. El-Sayed responded with criticism that Stevens was trying to “relitigate” the primary and urged focus on Rogers. Politico reported the El-Sayed campaign told Stevens to stay away from El-Sayed campaign events.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, told CNN Saturday that she told Stevens there was no point to the two of them appearing at the same event with all the dissension and controversy.
Condemnation from Michigan Democrats, even those who have been strong Stevens supporters, was immediate and severe.
Republicans praised her for putting the country ahead of her political party.
- Stevens, in a shocker, endorses Rogers for U.S. Senate - November 1, 2026
- Three area residents indicted on drug trafficking charges - October 31, 2026
- Union steel workers rally for fair contract with mining company in Upper Peninsula - October 31, 2026
