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Archive photo · 19 November 2019Haley Stevens Endorses Mike Rogers After Being Uninvited From Abdul El-Sayed Event
23 Western Mainstream6 West Asian4 Other9 Other source typesPhoto: P.J. Siquig / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan Senate two days before Election Day. endorsement followed intra-party feud with Abdul El-Sayed over Israel, prompting staff resignations.
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42 outlets told this the same way.
Stevens backs Rogers
Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers on Sunday, two days before Election Day, after she was uninvited to a joint event with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
“Stevens endorsed Rogers after attending a Detroit church service with him.”
Stevens said in a video announcing the endorsement, "Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away," and she added, "And he’s right. And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today."
Abdul El-Sayed dismissed the endorsement when reporters asked about it later Sunday, saying, "At the end of the day I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens," and adding, "None of this matters."
Stevens attended a Detroit church service with Rogers at Perfecting Church, while El-Sayed campaigned at a different house of worship with prominent Democrats including James Clyburn, according to the AP description of the split.
Party backlash and resignations
Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel announced that Stevens had been expelled from the state organization about an hour after she endorsed Rogers, and he framed the move as a serious breach in a tight Senate race. Hertel accused Stevens of abandoning what she claimed to defend and criticized her support for a candidate who, according to the state leadership, backs Trump’s agenda, hurts workers, and would promote a national abortion ban.
Stevens’s top aide Justin German resigned after the endorsement, and German said the team was "shocked and heartbroken" by Stevens’s decision. Chuck Schumer denounced the endorsement as a "despicable betrayal" while insisting that Senate Democrats remained united behind El-Sayed.
What is at stake
The AP said the Michigan Senate race could determine which party controls the Senate, with Stevens’s defection arriving with "just less than 48 hours to go before Election Day."
“President Donald Trump is holding rallies with GOP candidates in Iowa and Kansas ahead of the midterm elections.”
The AP also said keeping Michigan in Democratic hands was vital to the party’s effort to win a majority for the final two years of Trump’s second term, as the seat is held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters.
NBC News said Stevens told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she was endorsing Rogers while still planning to vote for Democrats "up and down" her ballot, and she said she hoped Democrats would still take the Senate majority come Nov. 3.
The NBC live updates also placed the moment inside a broader election-day context, noting that President Donald Trump was holding rallies with GOP candidates in Iowa and Kansas ahead of the midterm elections.