On Sunday afternoon, US Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in August, retracted her endorsement of her fellow Michigan Democrat and announced that she is now supporting his opponent, Republican candidate Mike Rogers.
“I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” Stevens said in the social media video. “I do not stand with Hasan Piker.”
El-Sayed has been repeatedly criticized by both parties for his association with Piker, a political commentator and online live-streamer, and his past remarks on Israel—remarks which the Democratic candidate had already distanced himself from over the summer.
“Who we are as Michiganders is not hate,” she said.
Stevens, whose move to endorse Rogers just days before the midterms is very unusual, appeared with Rogers at Perfecting Church, a prominent Black church in Detroit, which advertised its Sunday morning service as “Family and Friends Day.”
“Abdul made very clear that I was not welcome in his campaign,” Stevens told reporters Sunday, saying it was a “personal and private decision” to vote for Rogers. Rogers told reporters he was “honored” to receive Stevens’ support.
“This is the conscience of the Senate right now and our Michigan moment,” Stevens continued in the video. “I’m just letting you know where I am. I’m still a very proud Democrat.”
Michigan’s Democratic leaders condemned Stevens’ decision in a tight race which could determine control of the US Senate next year.
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement that it “shows that she has abandoned everything she claims to care about.”
“We reject the attempts by Stevens and bad-faith actors to divide our party and undermine our momentum, and will not allow these eleventh-hour distractions deter us,” Hertel continued.
Stevens had endorsed El-Sayed days after he bested Stevens in the August primary, but the pair had not campaigned together. They were set to campaign together Sunday at another church with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), but as my colleague Sophie Hurwitz wrote on Saturday, Stevens released a statement Friday demanding that El-Sayed publicly denounce an ad connecting high grocery prices in the US to the aid given to Israel from a group unaffiliated with his campaign and, as well as the candidate’s own remarks on Israel, as a requirement for her to appear at the Sunday event.
The primary between Stevens and El-Sayed became the most expensive in Democratic Party history, with by far the biggest spender for Stevens being the United Democracy Project, a super PAC backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that works to elect pro-Israel candidates.
El-Sayed responded on Friday with his own statement, saying that Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.”
Stevens’ decision seems to be sudden. On Sunday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said on MSNOW’s Meet the Press that he spoke personally with Stevens on Saturday night and she said she would vote for El-Sayed and all other Democrats. Stevens has made similar statements in support of El-Sayed recently.
Since Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers, around 15 of her staff members have resigned, including her chief of staff, according to the Detroit News.
Justin German, her now-former chief of staff, said in a statement said that they are “shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’ decision to support Mike Rogers.” Rogers is endorsed by President Donald Trump and has, along with other opponents, repeatedly launched Islamophobic rhetoric against El-Sayed.
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