National and state Democratic leaders are ripping Rep. Haley Stevens (R-MI) for endorsing Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Senate in Michigan, and reversing her initial support for Democrat Abdul el Sayed on Sunday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called her cross-party endorsement and abandonment of her support for el Sayed’s campaign a “despicable betrayal.”
“Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed, because we know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors. We Democrats are equally united in our total revulsion at the racist, Islamophobic, and over-the-top false attacks on Abdul by Republicans,” Schumer said.
Schumer and much of the Democratic establishment had initially supported Stevens in her primary against el Sayed, but endorsed el Sayed once he won the nomination. Stevens also endorsed el Sayed after the primary, but never appeared on the campaign trail with him.
Stevens had announced on Friday in a scathing statement that she planned on attending a Sunday church ceremony with el Sayed in Detroit as long as he denounced a Rebellion PAC that blamed high grocery prices on U.S. support for Israel and its military. El Sayed accused her of “relitigating” their primary, in which they sparred over support for Israel, and then his campaign disinvited her from attending campaign events.
On Sunday, Stevens showed up to church with Rogers, while el Sayed went with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who also ran in the state’s Democratic Senate primary. Stevens was heckled outside her church appearance with Rogers by a protester who interrupted her press comments by yelling, “Haley Stevens is a traitor!” before she was ushered away.
McMorrow derided Stevens for the endorsement, calling her move a “sad, desperate attempt to be relevant.”
“If anything, I think this has galvanized more people to come out and vote who were before because they see this for what it is, which is a blatant attempt at relevancy and trying to make an election about herself when the election is not about her. It is about Michigan. It is about Michiganders,” McMorrow said.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) had a similar message for Stevens.
“Anyone who makes an election this important about themselves, and not Michiganders and our democracy, should think hard about whether they are serving the greater good,” Slotkin, who has endorsed and campaigned with el Sayed, said.
Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called Stevens’s endorsement of Rogers “horrific,” saying Stevens chose to “dangerously betray Michigan families’ healthcare, freedoms and future” with the move.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin called Stevens’s endorsement of Rogers a “disappointing decision.”
“We will not allow last-minute political stunts to derail our momentum and we will triple down on our efforts to elect Abdul El-Sayed on Tuesday,” Martin said.
El Sayed, who has campaigned largely on cost-of-living issues in line with the left wing of the Democratic Party, dismissed Stevens’s move on Sunday, telling reporters the topic is “just a distraction” from issues that matter.
“None of this matters. You know what matters? There’s a family — you can go like 15 minutes that way or 15 minutes that way or 15 minutes that way — and there are families who are preparing to send their kids to schools tomorrow that look like they did 50 years ago. They’re worried about what they’re going to feed their kids for lunch. They’re worried that if one of their kids gets sick, they’re not going to be able to pay the bills. Those are the things that matter,” el Sayed said.
President Donald Trump celebrated the endorsement on Sunday, calling Stevens “highly respected” and the endorsement an act of “bravery.”
HALEY STEVENS FLIPS ENDORSEMENT TO MIKE ROGERS AFTER SPLIT WITH EL SAYED
“Her following is huge, and the level of respect from the People of Michigan, especially our African American and Jewish populations, is virtually unparalleled. Haley said what few people are willing to say. She showed great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the Great People of Michigan with what she did,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several of Stevens’s staff members have resigned from her office, including Chief of Staff Justin German, over the endorsement.