DETROIT | Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens rocked the Michigan Senate race Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers, splintering the fragile coalition behind Abdul El-Sayed two days before the election.
Declaring her support for Mr. Rogers in front of a Black church in downtown Detroit, Ms. Stevens, a party moderate who lost to Mr. El-Sayed in the primary, cited “hate” emerging from the El-Sayed campaign.
“At some point, you gotta look at who’s standing for country,” Ms. Stevens said as Mr. Rogers looked on approvingly.
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Ms. Stevens and Mr. El-Sayed are in a bitter feud over Mr. El-Sayed’s outspoken criticism of Israel and his refusal to firmly distance himself from antisemitic groups and individuals, among them far-left streamer and self-identified anti-Zionist Hasan Piker, who blamed America for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
During the Oct. 8 candidate’s debate, Mr. El-Sayed refused to say whether Israel or Iran posed a greater threat to the United States, calling the question “a ridiculous hypothetical.”
The simmering animosity between Ms. Stevens and Mr. El-Sayed boiled over on Saturday after Mr. El-Sayed disinvited her to a “Democratic unity” event slated for Sunday at the Northend Church of God and Christ Detroit. The event was planned to court Black voters Mr. El-Sayed critically needs to win on Tuesday.
According to reports, Ms. Stevens was told by El-Sayed campaign staff to stay clear of all of his events ahead of the election Tuesday.
So, instead of showing up at Northend Church on Sunday, Ms. Stevens appeared six miles across town at a different Black church with Mr. Rogers.
“My vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers, and I will tell you why. Because we have to stand with country. We can’t stand with hate. We can’t stand with Hasan Piker,” Ms. Stevens said after attending church services with Mr. Rogers.
President Trump cheered Ms. Stevens’s decision to switch sides, calling her “very brave.”
“I have great respect for her,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. El-Sayed, appearing at a different Black church across town with South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, brushed off the endorsement, saying he is focused on how policy can uplift people — not political drama. “None of this matters,” he said.
Still, the Stevens defection stunned Democrats.
Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, who supported Ms. Stevens’ primary bid, called the endorsement “a despicable betrayal.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who has campaigned with Mr. El-Sayed, said Ms. Stevens is getting in the way of putting checks on the Trump-led GOP and “saving the middle class.”
Others said Ms. Stevens effectively ended her future in Democratic politics.
“The fallout for Haley won’t just be in Dem politics; she will be a pariah among her friends in the Democratic caucus in Congress. Only she will be able to decide whether it was worth it,” former Rep. Susan Wild, Pennsylvania Democrat, posted on X.
The Michigan race is among the closest Senate battles in the country and pivotal to Democrats seeking to gain control of Congress.
Ms. Stevens’ last-minute and very public betrayal threatened to peel away Black and Jewish voters who are already on the fence about Mr. El Sayed, the most pro-Palestinian candidate for Senate who has also campaigned alongside Mr. Piker.
Just over 1% of Michigan voters are Jewish. About 11.5% are Black.
Polls show the race is a toss-up.
Ms. Stevens, speaking to reporters Sunday, acknowledged, “This is a very close election,” but said her decision to back the GOP candidate came after Mr. El-Sayed “made it very clear that I was not welcome in his campaign. He didn’t need me there, that he didn’t want me there.”
The bombshell stole some of the thunder away from Mr. El-Sayed’s appearance with Mr. Clyburn, a senior House Democratic leader, six miles away at Northend Church of God in Christ, where they held a “Souls to the Polls” event targeting Black voters.
Mr. El-Sayed ordered reporters not to ask about Ms. Stevens’ shock endorsement. He called it a distraction that didn’t matter to him.
“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think of Haley Stevens,” Mr. El-Sayed said. “I think about the 9,999,998 people who are not those two. Because you know what? I’m just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all.”
Mr. Clyburn on Saturday insisted the invite to Ms. Stevens to join them at Northend Church was still open, but Mr. El-Sayed told reporters he wasn’t interested in a joint appearance with his former primary opponent.
“I’ve been very clear that I would rather not distract from the key issues of this campaign, and those are getting money out of politics, money in your pocket and Medicare for All,” Mr. El-Sayed said Saturday after a campaign rally. “I don’t want a distraction.”
Ms. Stevens hasn’t exactly worked to reconcile with Mr. El-Sayed. Last week she renewed her criticism that Mr. El-Sayed had not been forceful enough in condemning an online ad from Rebellion PAC, a group led by liberal commentator Cenk Uygur. The ad blamed Israel for high U.S. grocery prices.
The fight spilled back into public view Friday. Ms. Stevens announced she would attend the Detroit church event with Mr. El-Sayed but that Mr. El-Sayed has not fully accounted for past comments about Israel and the war in Gaza, which they fought over in the primary.
Her comments did not go over well with Mr. El-Sayed.
“Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago,” he said Friday on X.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its affiliated super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent more than $30 million on behalf of Ms. Stevens in the primary.
Speaking from the sanctuary at the Northend Church on Sunday, Mr. El-Sayed linked his candidacy to a tradition of Black political empowerment.
He invoked former President Barack Obama and boxing and civil rights legend Muhammad Ali while arguing that Republican attacks on his Muslim faith and Arab name are meant to distract from voters’ economic concerns.
He recounted how he once believed “people like me don’t get to run for office” because of his name until he watched Mr. Obama win the presidency. He also recalled attending Ali’s funeral years later, describing the boxing legend as “the first person who ever showed me what it looked like to be proud of my name.”
Mr. El-Sayed used these stories to argue that the election should focus less on cultural grievances and more on what he characterized as failed Republican policies.
“Me and my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas,” he told the crowd, repeating the line for groceries, healthcare and environmental pollution before concluding: “It is their policies that are doing that.”
• Susan Ferrechio reported from Fort Worth, Texas.
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