Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens stood beside Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers at a Detroit church service Sunday morning and threw her support behind him, abandoning the Democrat who beat her in the August primary. The surprise appearance came just two days before Michigan voters decide a Senate race widely seen as pivotal to control of the chamber.
Stevens and Rogers appeared together at a service at Perfecting Church on Nevada Avenue on Detroit's east side around 11:20 a.m., according to The Detroit News. About an hour later, she made it official, posting a public endorsement of Rogers on social media. It marked a stunning reversal: Stevens had endorsed Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed soon after he edged her out in the primary, according to the same report.
That August primary loss was close. El-Sayed topped Stevens by less than a percentage point, according to CNN. The narrow margin set the stage for weeks of uneasy, if public, unity between the two Democrats — unity that collapsed entirely over the final days of the campaign.
A Fight Over an Ad and Israel
The break stemmed from a dispute over an outside-group advertisement touching on Israel, a defining fault line between the two candidates. The New York Times reports that Stevens demanded El-Sayed denounce the ad, which she characterized as fear-mongering about Israel, and issued a statement demanding an apology for his comments criticizing Israel. El-Sayed pushed back, saying the ad was not made by him and that he did not agree with its contents.
The tension reflects a broader divide between the two Democrats: El-Sayed has positioned himself as a progressive and a forceful critic of Israel, while Stevens has built her political identity as a centrist and a supporter of Israel, per the Times. That split had been simmering since the primary, but it broke into the open in the race's final week.
A Canceled Unity Event
Stevens had said she planned to campaign with El-Sayed over the weekend, but those plans fell apart. El-Sayed said he did not want her to join him at a planned party unity event in Detroit, telling reporters, “I don't want any distractions,” and adding that “other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it's not about,” according to the Times.
Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell gave her own account of what happened to the event, which had also been expected to include Rep. Jim Clyburn. “I'm the one who pulled it because it had become way too distracting,” Dingell told the Associated Press, according to Bridge Michigan. El-Sayed instead attended a church service with Democratic leaders in Detroit, separate from the one where Stevens appeared with Rogers.
Fallout Inside Stevens's Office
The political fallout from Stevens's switch appeared to extend into her own congressional staff. Her longtime chief of staff resigned following her appearance with Rogers, and a number of other staff members were expected to follow soon, according to a person familiar with the developments cited by ClickOrlando.
Stevens framed her decision as a matter of fit rather than pure loyalty, saying, “I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today,” and adding plainly, “I don't belong in Abdul's campaign,” per the Times's reporting.
Stakes for the Senate and for Michigan's Jewish Voters
The timing could hardly be higher-stakes. Michigan is seen as the best opportunity for Republicans to pick up a Senate seat, the Times reports, a dynamic that has turned the race into a closely watched bellwether for which party controls the chamber after Tuesday's vote. Rogers has been positioning himself as the Republican nominee against El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee, in a contest both parties view as unusually competitive for Michigan.
The dispute has also rippled beyond the two candidates' camps. The split between El-Sayed and Stevens is further exacerbating tensions between Jewish voters and the nominee ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. With voting just two days away, the public rupture leaves Michigan Democrats scrambling to project unity heading into a race both parties agree could swing the balance of the Senate.
