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Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday amid a rift with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed that has come front and center in the final sprint to Election Day.
“Our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away, and he’s right,” Stevens said in a video posted on social media Sunday. “And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
Stevens, who narrowly lost to El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic primary in August, appeared alongside Rogers at a Detroit church on Sunday.
The development comes after Stevens, who had been heavily supported by the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm in the primary and has since said she was supporting the Democratic ticket, called on El-Sayed last week to condemn an outside group’s ad linking U.S. military aid to Israel to rising grocery prices, which she characterized as antisemitic. El-Sayed accused Stevens of “relitigating a primary that ended three months ago,” although he has also clarified that the ad “was not made by me” and said he disagrees with its contents.
El-Sayed pushes to return the attention to the issues facing Michigan voters as he takes on the GOP candidate, Rogers. But Rogers praised Stevens on Friday for calling on El-Sayed to denounce the ad, and for expressing concerns raised by Michigan Jewish voters.
“Representative Haley Stevens is a courageous leader who deserves the respect of every Michigan voter,” Rogers said in a post on X. “She has conducted herself with nothing but class since the Democratic primary, a primary where a majority of voters did not vote for her party’s nominee.”
Amid the rift, Stevens was asked to stay away from all remaining campaign events in the final days before Tuesday’s election, CBS News previously reported. Stevens had been expected to appear with El-Sayed at a unity event Sunday alongside Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. But El-Sayed said Saturday, “I would rather not distract from the key issues of this campaign.”
Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, said last week that he is voting for Rogers.
After Stevens endorsed Rogers, top Democrats expressed their continued support for El-Sayed’s candidacy, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“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,” Schumer said in a statement.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said Michiganders “want leaders focused on making their lives more affordable.”
“That’s what they’re talking about, not Congresswoman Stevens’ continued efforts to get attention,” she said in a statement. “ If we are going to fight to improve the lives of working men and women in Michigan, we must stay focused on electing Democrats up and down the ballot, and that includes electing Abdul El-Sayed as Michigan’s next senator.”
