By Townhall Chicago News Staff
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Monday, one day before Michigan voters decide the state’s open Senate seat.
Stevens lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed earlier this year. Her endorsement of Rogers, announced over the weekend, immediately drew condemnation from national Democratic leaders and exposed a split within the party over El-Sayed’s candidacy heading into Tuesday’s election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the move “a despicable betrayal from Representative Stevens.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., defended El-Sayed, saying “Abdul El-Sayed must win because Michigan and our country deserve better.”
Stevens said in a television interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that she “can’t stand with hate” in explaining her decision to back Rogers. She said she remains “still on Team Dem” and wants Schumer to continue as Senate Democratic leader.
Dan Proft, host of a Chicago radio program on AM 560 that covered the endorsement Monday morning, cited comments from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticizing El-Sayed. Fetterman said El-Sayed showed “the worst case of little man syndrome I’ve ever seen,” according to Proft.
The Michigan Senate race has drawn national attention as one of several contests that will determine which party controls the chamber next year. El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health department director, won the Democratic primary earlier this year after a competitive field that included Stevens.
Rogers, a former Michigan congressman, is the Republican nominee in the race. Neither the El-Sayed campaign nor the Rogers campaign issued statements addressing the endorsement directly in material reviewed for this report.
Michigan is one of several battleground states where Senate control could be decided Tuesday. A separate Fox News Radio report on the same broadcast said Democrats need to hold every Senate seat they currently control and flip at least four Republican-held seats to win a majority, underscoring the stakes attached to individual races such as Michigan’s.
The Stevens endorsement adds Michigan to a short list of races where a prominent member of the opposing party crossed lines in the campaign’s final days. It was not immediately clear how the endorsement would affect turnout in the Detroit suburbs Stevens represents. Stevens was first elected to represent Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in 2018 and did not seek reelection to the House this cycle, opting instead to run for the Senate seat she lost in the primary.
Polls open across Michigan on Election Day, with results expected overnight into Wednesday.
