• Democratic US Rep. Haley Stevens joined Mike Rogers at a Sunday morning church event in Detroit
  • Appearance came as Democrats prepared a ‘unity rally’ for Abdul El-Sayed
  • El-Sayed and Rogers are locked in a tight battle for Michigan’s open US Senate seat
Haley Stevens, Mike Rogers
US Rep. Haley Stevens, left, joined Republican US Seante nominee Mike Rogers and his wife Sunday at Perfecting Church in Detroit. (Courtesy photo via Rogers campaign)

DEMOCRAT — Democratic US Rep. Haley Stevens on Sunday endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for US Senate, bucking former primary rival Abdul El-Sayed just two days before the Nov. 3 election.

Stevens endorsed Rogers in a video statement and joined him Sunday morning at Perfecting Church in Detroit.

“I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” Stevens said in the video. 

In brief remarks before entering the church with Rogers, Stevens said she supports investing in Black owned businesses, “and that’s the policy Mike’s going to take on,” she said, according to video by Michigan Chronicle reporter Sam Robinson.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel blasted Stevens in a statement, saying her decision to campaign with Rogers “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 added. 

Stevens’ endorsement came as Democrats were headed to a separate church event in Detroit in an attempt to present a united front behind El-Sayed in a race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.  

Stevens, who lost in the primary to El-Sayed, was initially set to join the nominee and U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina at the event. Those plans unraveled after a dispute over Israel and an outside group’s campaign advertisement escalated into a public exchange of criticism between the rivals.

Debbie Dingell, the Michigan congresswoman who helped organize the planned joint appearance in hopes of bringing together Democrats in the final days before Tuesday’s vote, said she asked Stevens not to attend and that Stevens told her she would abide by that.

“I’m the one who pulled it because it had become way too distracting,” Dingell told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “This is not how I was going to spend my weekend before the election, to be perfectly frank.”

“The bishop was getting upset, because this is a real church service,” Dingell added.

The latest and late-stage infighting comes as Democrats look to drive turnout among Black and Jewish voters in key strongholds. 

El-Sayed, a former Michigan public health official, is in a tight race with Mike Rogers, an ex-congressman, for the seat held by Democrat Gary Peters, who is retiring. Keeping Michigan in Democratic hands is vital to the party’s effort to win a majority for the final two years of Republican President Donald Trump’s second term.

Late Saturday night, Stevens released a statement saying she was glad to see El-Sayed disagree with the content of the outside ad.

“Whenever anyone tries to set us against each other, we have an obligation to stand up and fight back,” Stevens wrote in a statement that ended with: “Go vote!”

Dingell and other Democrats insist the party is united behind El-Sayed, who would be the country’s first Muslim senator if elected. Early voting has been underway since Oct. 24, before the latest tensions erupted. But the renewed bickering has complicated Democrats’ efforts to deliver a unified closing message in crucial areas such as Detroit, where turnout could prove decisive.

“All you guys want to talk about was Abdul and Haley and it really needs to be about what the issues are that people should be voting about on Tuesday,” Dingell said. She added about El-Sayed’s Republican opponent: “Mike Rogers loved every minute of it.”

The tensions carry particular significance in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and neighboring Oakland County. Stevens defeated El-Sayed in both counties in the August primary, drawing support from Black and Jewish voters who are important parts of the Democratic coalition.

Throughout the primary cycle, Stevens promised to endorse the Democratic nominee and did so following her loss to El-Sayed. 

Earlier this week, she told CNN she would still vote for El-Sayed after her 

fiance Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat and civil rights attorney, said he planned to vote for Rogers in the general election. 

Following that announcement, El-Sayed told reporters “there are always going to be some folks who have different opinions, and they’re welcome to that.”

“If folks see another issue that is more important to them and decide that their disagreement with me on that is bigger than their disagreement with me on all these other things, that is their choice,” he said.

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