Democrat Haley Stevens Dumps Her Party, Endorses Republican Mike Rogers as Her Staff Walks Out Days Before Election
Two days before Michigan voters decide a Senate race that could help tip control of Congress, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens sat in a Detroit church next to Republican nominee Mike Rogers and then publicly endorsed him.
Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary in August to progressive Abdul El-Sayed, skipped a planned party unity event. She showed up instead at Perfecting Church with Rogers, the Trump-endorsed former congressman. Shortly afterward she announced she was backing him, saying El-Sayed’s campaign had made clear she was no longer welcome.
The fallout was immediate. Her longtime chief of staff, Justin German, and her communications director, Logan Basch, quit along with other staff. German’s statement was blunt: “We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’ decision to support Mike Rogers.” The departing aides said they back El-Sayed.
The break stems from a months-long feud that exploded over an outside ad linking U.S. aid to Israel with higher grocery prices. Stevens, a consistent supporter of Israel who is engaged to a Jewish lawyer, demanded El-Sayed condemn it. He did not. Her team says she was effectively frozen out of the Democratic campaign in the final stretch. Michigan Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly rebuked her.
This is what a party looks like when its moderate wing is pushed out by the progressive base. El-Sayed won the primary by a hair after a bitter fight dominated by Israel and outside spending. Stevens once promised to help keep the seat blue. Instead she is campaigning against her own party’s nominee in the final hours.
Michigan’s Senate race was already tight. A sitting Democratic congresswoman endorsing the Republican while her own office empties out is the kind of last-minute fracture that can move votes. The election is Tuesday.