Haley Stevens Backs Republican Rogers Days Before Michigan Senate Vote

A Democratic congresswoman crossed to the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan two days before the midterms, opening a party split over Israel and giving Mike Rogers a late boost in a race analysts rank among the cycle's most important.

Haley Stevens, who has represented Michigan's 11th Congressional District since 2019, endorsed Rogers over her party's nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, in a video posted on X on Sunday, 1 November 2026.

The same morning she stood beside Rogers at a service at Perfecting Church in Detroit. A Rogers campaign representative posted a photo on X of the two of them side by side at the service.

She went on: "And he's right. And that's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today."

Stevens said she had kept faith with her party, endorsed the Democratic nominee, and that he chose to close his campaign by telling her she wasn't welcome. Outside the church, she told reporters El-Sayed had made clear he didn't need or want her there.

She also framed the decision as a narrow one. Stevens said "90% of the votes I'm going to cast are going to be for Democrats," but that her Senate vote would go to Rogers. Her reason, she said, was that "we have to stand with country."

The rupture has a short history. In August 2026, Stevens lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed by a narrow margin, and their dispute centred on support for Israel. Stevens strongly supports Israel; El-Sayed has been sharply critical of the US ally.

Stevens asked El-Sayed to disavow an advertisement from an outside group that she said was antisemitic. She is described as Aipac-backed.

As recently as last week, according to one report, Stevens told CNN she would vote for El-Sayed. Sunday's endorsement reversed that position in public.

1. August 2026Primary

   El-Sayed narrowly defeats Stevens for the Democratic Senate nomination.

2. Recent weeksThe ad dispute

   Stevens asks El-Sayed to disavow an outside-group ad she calls antisemitic.

3. 24 October 2026Obama rallies

   Barack Obama raises El-Sayed's hand at a campaign rally in Detroit.

4. 1 November 2026Church and video

   Stevens appears with Rogers at Perfecting Church and posts her endorsement on X.

5. 3 November 2026Polling day

   Polls close in the midterm elections.

El-Sayed built his campaign on criticism of Israel's war in Gaza, while Rogers is a hardline Republican ally of President Donald Trump, who backs him.

The response from her own side was swift. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a "despicable betrayal" and said Senate Democrats were behind their nominee.

Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens had turned her back on her own record by campaigning with Rogers, whom he described as a loyal vote for Trump's agenda. He said the party would not let what he called eleventh-hour distractions deter it.

Virgie Rollins, chair of the Democratic National Committee Black Caucus, was blunter. She said the party was dismayed that Stevens had treated Black Michiganders as a political prop, calling her a sellout. Rollins added that Stevens had lost her way and that Michigan was ready to elect El-Sayed on Tuesday.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell said voters cared about affordability rather than the congresswoman's continued efforts to get attention. She urged Democrats to stay focused on electing their ticket up and down the ballot, El-Sayed included.

Trump welcomed the endorsement in a social media post on Sunday, praising Stevens for showing "great and almost unprecedented loyalty" to Michigan.

Stevens was not alone in her household in breaking with the nominee. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, has said he plans to vote for Rogers and attended an event with Rogers and Sen. Ted Cruz last week.

El-Sayed declined to take the bait. On Sunday, the nominee attended a service at another Black church in Detroit, alongside Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, and said "none of this matters" and that he didn't want any distractions.

He said he does not think about Stevens, and he listed the concerns he said were being crowded out: gas prices, grocery costs, and air and water quality.

Stevens arrived in the House in 2019 after a career steeped in Democratic politics. Her campaign work included Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and she later held a post in the Obama administration.

From 2009 to 2011, she led the auto rescue programme as chief of staff at the US Department of the Treasury, then served as a White House appointee on the Auto Task Force.

In Congress, she has held the post of vice chair on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and chaired its Research and Technology Subcommittee.

Her own summary of the break was blunter than any of her critics managed. "I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," she said, adding that who Michiganders are is not hate and is not what they were getting from the Democratic nominee.

Analysts consider the Michigan Senate race one of the most important Senate contests of the cycle. Obama campaigned for El-Sayed in Detroit on 24 October, raising the nominee's hand at a rally nine days before polling day.

What the final two days hold is not settled. El-Sayed has not addressed her account of being told she was unwelcome.