DETROIT-Rep. Haley Stevens has endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for Senate, marking a stunning reversal from her support of Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and adding chaos to Michigan's Senate race.
"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," said Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, in a video posted to X on Sunday. She added that she also didn't stand with supporters of El-Sayed's campaign such as left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. "I love this state ... and I'm here to declare who we are as Michiganders."
The video was posted shortly after Stevens made a surprise appearance with Rogers at a Detroit church. Speaking to reporters after the service, Stevens suggested she had never felt welcome after endorsing El-Sayed following the August primary. "I stood with my party, and I was booed off the stage," Stevens said, with Rogers by her side.
"None of this matters," El-Sayed told reporters outside a Detroit church later on Sunday.
El-Sayed won the August primary by less than one percentage point after a race that encapsulated virtually every division unsettling the party: establishment vs. outsider, pro-Israel vs. a skeptic of U.S. policy on Israel, and moderate vs. progressive.
Stevens immediately endorsed El-Sayed after the primary, but the two have continued to have a frosty relationship.
A feud intensified in recent days, after Stevens asked El-Sayed to apologize for criticism he has made of Israel and called on him to disavow what she describes as an antisemitic ad from an outside group. El-Sayed has said he disagrees with the contents of the ad and accused Stevens of distracting from core campaign issues.
Stevens's chief of staff, Justin German, said that he and several other staffers in her House office were "shocked and heartbroken" by her endorsement of Rogers and were resigning as a result. "This election is too important to sow division or stand on the sidelines," German wrote in a statement urging people to vote for El-Sayed. A request for comment sent to Stevens's communications director, Logan Basch, generated an auto-reply stating: "Hello, as of November 1st I am no longer with the Office of Congresswoman Haley Stevens."
Top Democrats also widely condemned Stevens's move. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called it "a despicable portrayal," while retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.), whose seat El-Sayed and Rogers are vying for, said he was "extremely disappointed" in Stevens's decision.