Representative Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the Michigan Senate seat on Sunday, less than 48 hours before polls open.
The backstory: Stevens lost the Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed, then spent months saying she supported the ticket, until relations broke down over Israel and over a Cenk Uygur ad that blamed the country for US grocery prices.
- Stevens said in a video posted Sunday that El-Sayed "said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away, and he's right."
Zoom in: Her statement followed a surprise appearance alongside Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit, hours after she skipped a unity event with El-Sayed and Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina.
- El-Sayed, campaigning at a Souls to the Polls event, told reporters: "None of this matters." He said voters are focused on schools, lunch money and medical bills.
What they're saying: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a "despicable betrayal," and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens "has abandoned everything she claims to care about."
The other side: Stevens said she does "not stand with Hasan Piker," the streamer who campaigned with El-Sayed in the primary, and she had pressed El-Sayed to apologize for rhetoric she called inflammatory.
What's next: Stevens's communications director left her office on Sunday, according to an email auto reply, and several former campaign staffers criticized her publicly on social media.
Between the lines: The split runs along the party's widening divide over Israel, a fault line that Democrats will carry into the 2028 presidential nominating process.
Why it matters: Michigan is one of the seats that decides Senate control on Tuesday, and a sitting House Democrat just handed the Republican a closing-argument gift in a state decided by thin margins.
