Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens Backs GOP Candidate After Being Snubbed
Rep. Haley Stevens endorses Mike Rogers, sparking backlash from Democrats and allies.
3 min read
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) has crossed party lines by endorsing former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, a move that has triggered a wave of criticism from Democratic allies and party leaders. Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, stated she was not welcome in his campaign and decided to support Rogers instead.
Stevens Defends Her Decision
“Abdul [El-Sayed] made very clear that I was not welcome in his campaign, that he didn’t need me there, that he didn’t want me there … my vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers,” Stevens said. “We have to stand with country, we can’t stand with hate, we can’t stand with Hasan Piker… I stood with my party and I was booed off the stage.”
News — Statement from Haley Stevens’ now-ex chief of staff https://t.co/8LNhyBB7RM
Leftist Mehdi Hasan took to X after Stevens’ endorsement to call her a “traitor” to the party, claiming that anyone who’d supported her in the past should re-evaluate everything.
Internal Party Fallout
Members of Stevens’ own staff resigned en masse, and her former Chief of Staff Justin German released a statement on their behalf swearing loyalty to the Democrat nominee — Abdul El-Sayed — and saying that they were “heartbroken” by her decision.
Michigan Democrats stand united and fully behind @AbdulElSayed. We reject the attempts by Haley Stevens and bad-faith actors to divide our party and undermine our momentum.
The Michigan Democrat Party released joint statements from party Chair Curtis Hertel and First Vice Chair Portia Roberson, each of whom referred to Rogers as handpicked by President Donald Trump and therefore a threat to Democracy as a whole.
Political Reactions and Speculation
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested that Stevens’ fiancé — who announced days earlier that he was supporting Rogers — was influencing her decision to appear alongside Rogers.
MS NOW continues their meltdown, carting out Stacey Abrams to stop the bleeding with El Sayed’s embattled campaign.
MS NOW host Chris Hayes commented, “Before all this insanity, this race was a kind of natural experiment for the appeal of Bernie-style progressive politics in a contested swing state race. But now Stevens has turned herself into a kind of centrist Ralph Nader if El-Sayed loses.”
Neera Tanden, a former White House official under President Joe Biden, added, “Standing with Mike Rogers is a betrayal of everything Haley Stevens has fought for her entire career. It’s also a betrayal of all of her supporters that believed in her.”
El-Sayed and Trump Respond
El-Sayed himself, speaking shortly after Stevens endorsed his Republican opponent, made it clear that he wasn’t going to discuss it: “If you ask me questions about two folks not here right, I’m going to be less interested in answering.”
Lol Abdul El-Sayed demands that the media not ask him questions about Haley Stevens endorsing Mike Rogers:
Trump voiced support for Stevens, issuing a statement on her behalf from his Truth Social account.
Source: Daily Wire
