The Democratic Party’s most powerful and influential figures unanimously condemned Representative Haley Stevens and her last minute decision to back Republican Mike Rogers for the US Senate.
Though Stevens initially backed Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed after narrowly losing a bitter primary battle against him, she made a very public about-face on Sunday following reports that lingering tension between the two led El-Sayed’s camp to ask her to keep her distance from his campaign.
“Hey Michigan, as you may have seen, our Democratic nominee for US Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away. And he’s right,” she announced in a video on X. “And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
In a striking display of unity, leaders from the Democrats’ moderate wing and the party’s progressive flank set aside their ideological differences to collectively denounce Stevens’ 11th-hour heel turn as a “betrayal.”
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described Stevens’ decision as “despicable,” reminding voters that Senate Democrats are united in their support for El-Sayed, who will “fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was even more blunt, taking to X to say, “Let’s be clear about one thing. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will always put the American people first and fight hard to lower the high cost of living. His election is critical to flipping control of the United States Senate. Mike Rogers is a partisan hack who represents more of the same MAGA extremism.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who previously endorsed Stevens in her primary race against El-Sayed, said the congresswoman had “chosen to dangerously betray Michigan families’ healthcare, freedoms and future with her horrific endorsement of Mike Rogers. Abdul El-Sayed must win — because Michigan and our country deserve better.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told the New York Times Stevens’ last-minute political pivot was “galling,” explaining that “the choice is whether or not you want to fight for working people like what Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has been on, or whether you want to provide additional oxygen and amplification to a candidacy of someone who wants to cut Medicare even further than it’s already been cut. That’s what’s on the ballot.”
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Progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared to dismiss Stevens’ move as a petty attention grab during a Sunday campaign stop in New York’s Astoria neighbourhood.
She said, “Abdul El-Sayed is very clearly the leader that we need in this moment, and I don’t think that it’s worth the distraction.”
In an X post, Michigan’s sitting Senator Elissa Slotkin said she had tried to stay out of the “political drama” between Stevens and El-Sayed but that there was “too much at stake” for her to continue to stay silent.
“Anyone who makes an election this important about themselves, and not Michiganders and our democracy, should think hard about whether they are serving the greater good,” she wrote.
Michigan’s soon-departing senior senator, Senator Gary Peters, wrote that he was “extremely disappointed” in Stevens.
Peters, whose Senate seat will go to the winner of El-Sayed and Rogers’ race, posted to X saying, “Donald Trump’s corruption and chaos must be checked by a Democratic Senate majority to stop the economic pain crushing Michiganders. I endorsed Abdul, I’ve campaigned with Abdul and tomorrow we will cast our ballot for Abdul and every Democrat on the ballot.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin slammed Steven for the “last-minute political stunt,” which he said was designed to “sow division” and “derail momentum” within the party.
