Rep. Haley Stevens, the Michigan Democrat who lost her party’s Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday and appeared beside him at Perfecting Church in Detroit, Bridge Michigan and the Associated Press reported.
“Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away,” Stevens said in a video posted on X. “And he’s right. And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
With Rogers at her side, Stevens told reporters, “We can’t stand with hate. We can’t stand with Hasan Piker,” Al Jazeera reported. She also said, “I’m choosing country over hate,” and “This is not anti-Muslim at all.” Stevens said she remains a Democrat and will vote for Democrats in 90 percent of the races on her ballot.
I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. https://t.co/pQgfSBuhOJ
— Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) November 1, 2026
The ad behind the break
The split followed a fight over an ad from Rebellion PAC, an outside group backing El-Sayed. The ad tied U.S. military aid to Israel to Americans’ grocery bills and showed a couple putting back eggs to save money for “killing Palestinians,” Al Jazeera reported. Stevens called the ad antisemitic and demanded that El-Sayed condemn it. El-Sayed said his campaign did not make the ad and that he disagreed with its message, and he accused Stevens of trying to relitigate the primary.
Abdul El-Sayed blames Israel for the price of your eggs and bananas, even though he knows that higher grocery prices are only due to supply, energy and inflation factors. Shame on anyone voting for a candidate who uses Antisemitic talking points to win an election. https://t.co/pk5lQweZAf
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) October 25, 2026
Stevens also criticized El-Sayed’s ties to left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, whose uncle, Cenk Uygur, founded the PAC. Her fiancé, civil rights attorney Jason Turkish, who is Jewish, had already said he would vote for Rogers.
As recently as Wednesday, Stevens said she still wanted El-Sayed to win. She had been set to join him and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina at a Sunday “unity rally” at another Detroit church. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who organized that event, told the AP she called off Stevens’ appearance. “I’m the one who pulled it because it had become way too distracting,” Dingell said.
HUGE. Hayley Stevens was on CNN just days ago saying she was knocking doors for El-Sayed. Now with just two and a half days to go, the woman who was defeated by El-Sayed by just 1% of the vote in the Dem primary has switched teams, and says vote Republican. Extraordinary.
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) November 1, 2026
Trump weighs in
President Trump praised Stevens on Truth Social. “Wow, this is BIG!” he wrote. “Haley said what few people are willing to say,” he added. “It’s a thing called bravery.” At his Sunday rally in Iowa, Trump invited Stevens to join the Republican Party, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported.
The race
The seat is open because Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. Recent polls have shown El-Sayed ahead by four to seven points, according to an Al Jazeera explainer, which noted that Michigan polling has been unreliable in past cycles. Nearly $300 million has been spent on the contest.
Democrats closed ranks around their nominee. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a “despicable betrayal.” Justin German, Stevens’ chief of staff for eight years, and several other aides stepped down. “We are shocked and heartbroken,” German said.
The bottom line
Stevens is not a conservative. She has voted with her party for years, sought this very Senate seat as a Democrat, and still plans to vote for Democrats down most of her ballot. That is what gives her decision its weight. A Democrat who knows the nominee and the campaign up close concluded that she could not vote for him, and said why in plain terms.
The ad at the center of this fight told voters that their grocery money was going to “killing Palestinians.” Stevens asked her party’s nominee to condemn it. When the fight went public, she was pulled from the unity event, her chief of staff and several aides quit, and the Senate Democratic leader called her decision a “despicable betrayal.”
Michigan voters, including the many Democrats who backed Stevens in August, now have a clear choice and a clear warning from inside the other party. Rogers has earned a fresh look from every one of them before Tuesday.