Stevens’ switch re-exposes Democratic divisions over Israel and party identity

Rep. Haley Stevens revoked her endorsement of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday and endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, less than 48 hours before Election Day. Around 11 a.m., Stevens arrived at Perfecting Church in Detroit and sat in the pews with Rogers, while El-Sayed’s event took place at another church roughly six miles away. Soon after, she announced the endorsement.

NPR reported that Democrats in Michigan and Washington were furious and that the reversal stunned Stevens’ allies and friends in Michigan and on Capitol Hill. Several had said publicly that Stevens was reassuring them up until the 11th hour that she would continue to support El-Sayed, even as the rift between the two Democrats spilled back into public view in the final days of the race.

NPR reported that Stevens had previously criticized Rogers as a rubber stamp for President Trump. Standing alongside Rogers, Stevens said: “Abdul 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. I did endorse the Democratic nominee, and he chose to close this campaign by saying I wasn’t welcome.”

NPR reported that elected Michigan Democrats rallied around El-Sayed after Stevens’ reversal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Stevens’ actions on Sunday a “despicable betrayal.” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel wrote on X that Stevens was no longer a member of the party and would not be in the future.

Stevens’ chief of staff for eight years, Justin German, wrote in a statement that he and many of Stevens’ congressional staff resigned Sunday morning, saying they were “shocked and heartbroken” by Stevens’ decision to endorse Rogers. Rep. Debbie Dingell, the dean of Michigan’s Democratic House delegation, told NPR in a Monday interview: “I was shocked when I saw what happened on Sunday. I’m worried for her. I was very sad to watch her interview last night.”

The August primary divided Michigan Democrats and exposed fractures over Israel and the party’s direction. El-Sayed defeated Stevens by about 1 percent of the vote. Some voters who backed Stevens remained hesitant about El-Sayed. NPR reported that most prominent Democrats rallied around him after the primary and again on Sunday.

The sequence leading to the break covered five days in Michigan. During the primary, El-Sayed and Stevens frequently clashed over rhetoric and positions related to Israel. NPR characterized El-Sayed as “a vocal critic” and Stevens as “a staunch defender.” El-Sayed regularly criticized Stevens over the millions of dollars in spending on her behalf by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, while calling for reduced influence of special-interest money in politics.

Stevens and some Jewish voters also raised concerns about statements made by El-Sayed and some of his supporters, including Hasan Piker, a streamer whom NPR described as left-wing and who campaigned with El-Sayed. In August, after Piker implied that Jews’ support for Israel put them at risk of personal violence, El-Sayed did not disavow him but told reporters that Piker did not speak for the campaign.

After a March truck attack on a Detroit-area synagogue preschool by a man whose family had been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, El-Sayed said violence is a cycle and that “hurt people, hurt people.” He later apologized, saying the timing was inappropriate. In recent days, Stevens had criticized El-Sayed for not doing enough to reassure uncertain Jewish and Black voters who supported her in the primary.

On Wednesday, Stevens’ fiance, Detroit-area lawyer Jason Turkish, said he planned to vote for Rogers. In a television appearance, Stevens said she was still supporting the Democratic nominee. Around that time, Dingell was trying to organize a joint appearance between El-Sayed and Stevens at a Sunday Souls to the Polls event at a church in Detroit alongside Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a prominent Black Democrat. The effort was intended as a show of unity before Election Day.

On Friday, Stevens set a condition for her participation: that El-Sayed reject a digital advertisement supporting him that blamed U.S. aid to Israel for high grocery prices and apologize for rhetoric she considered inflammatory and offensive. The advertisement was linked to Cenk Uygur of Young Turks, which NPR described as a left-wing outlet, and not to El-Sayed’s campaign.

El-Sayed released a statement saying Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” Dingell said she told Stevens not to attend because the turmoil had become a distraction.

El-Sayed’s campaign said it had nothing to do with the advertisement. On Saturday, El-Sayed told reporters he did not agree with its content. Asked by reporters whether he wanted Stevens to attend the church with him, El-Sayed said, “I would rather not distract from the key issues of the campaign.”

Through Saturday night, Stevens was telling Democrats including Dingell and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., that she would not rescind her endorsement of El-Sayed, though many Democrats were unsure whether she would appear Sunday morning. She ultimately did not attend and appeared instead with Rogers at another church roughly six miles away.

Stevens said, “I’m not trying to harm anyone.” She then told reporters: “I’ve worked really hard for Democrats. I’m not turning my back on Democrats. It is one vote. When you see repeated hate, it’s not acceptable. I still love the party.” Rogers said Stevens “showed courage and bravery in putting Michigan first.”

El-Sayed’s event went on without her. He joined Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., other prominent Black politicians and faith leaders to rally voters on the last day of early in-person voting. Asked outside about Stevens, El-Sayed said he did not think about her. “None of this matters,” he said. “You know what matters. You can go, like, 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way. And there are families who are preparing to send their kids to schools tomorrow that look like they did 50 years ago.”

Michigan State Rep. Noah Arbit wrote on X: “I have severe concerns about AES’ rhetoric redounding dangerously on Jews,” referring to El-Sayed. “I have shared those concerns with him & publicly. But the sane answer for anyone who claims to care about democracy, rule of law, minorities cannot be to embrace Rogers’ disgusting, dangerous Islamophobia.”

NPR reported that Rogers and other Republicans, including President Trump, focused their closing arguments on portraying El-Sayed as dangerous and un-American. NPR also reported that the Republicans accused him, without evidence, of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah, which El-Sayed forcefully denied. At rallies, El-Sayed has said Rogers was using his faith and his name to distract from soaring prices. El-Sayed would be the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Senate. NPR reported that Stevens struggled to explain why she had reversed during a CNN interview Sunday night, after telling colleagues she would not.

The effect on voters remained unsettled. Some Democrats who had not voted for El-Sayed in the primary were still deciding whether to support him in the general election this fall. At a farmer’s market and Halloween festival in Oakland County, retiree Jan Jacobs, a member of the temple that experienced the March truck attack, said she voted for Democrats across the board but left the Senate race blank. “I understand we want to have Democrats represented in the Senate, I’m just not sure if this is the right person for me,” she said Saturday.

Michelle Boddy, who wants a Democratic Congress to check Trump, said she was not initially sold on El-Sayed but eventually got there. “I know how Obama feels about democracy and the fact that he endorsed him gave me a sense of yes, that’s the person to vote for,” Boddy said.

At an early-vote location in Macomb County, Jason Kerr said he voted for Trump in 2024 and was now voting for El-Sayed. Frustrated with how Trump has handled his second term, Kerr said, “I’m just surprised by some of the decisions that have been made. Making statements that inflation is not that bad. That gets difficult for me, when messaging doesn’t match what’s actually going on.”

El-Sayed has argued that he can win by harnessing anger at establishment politicians to sway young voters, disengaged voters and former Trump voters. Asked whether the latest drama with Stevens would sway significant numbers of undecided voters, El-Sayed said it would not. “I’m a gut politician, I think it’s had a reverse impact,” Dingell told NPR.

The turn did not produce the closing discussion El-Sayed’s campaign had been seeking. The turmoil re-exposed fault lines within the party that had been deepening all year, not just over Israel but about the party’s identity going forward. Even if Democrats reclaimed one or both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, those questions would remain. The debate is likely to continue as Democrats prepare to choose a presidential nominee in 2028, with Michigan among the earliest primary states to weigh in.