Michigan Democrats Were Right to Shut Haley Stevens Out

Stevens lost the August primary to Abdul El-Sayed and promised to back the nominee. Then she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers two days out.

On Sunday morning she walked into Perfecting Church in Detroit next to Mike Rogers, the Republican trying to beat her own party's Senate nominee, Bridge Michigan and the Associated Press reported.

With two days to go, and the Senate majority possibly riding on Michigan, the Democrat who lost the state's primary endorsed the Republican, NPR reported. State party chair Curtis Hertel Jr. answered by saying on X that she's no longer "a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future," TheWrap reported. I think he got it exactly right. Stevens isn't a maverick following her conscience. She's a sore loser spending her party's trust on the way out.

Start with what she owed. Stevens lost the August primary to Abdul El-Sayed, a former Michigan public health official, for the open seat Democrat Gary Peters is leaving. All through that race she promised to back whoever won, and after she lost, she did, Bridge reported. That's the deal a primary runs on. You fight, the votes get counted, and the loser gets behind the winner.

Her reason for breaking that deal, in an Instagram video quoted by TheWrap, is that El-Sayed told her she wasn't welcome in his campaign. That part's true. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who helped organize Sunday's unity event, told the AP she asked Stevens not to come. El-Sayed asked her Saturday to stay away from his events. The fight was over an outside group's ad tying U.S. military aid to Israel to grocery prices. Stevens called the ad antisemitic, and El-Sayed said he disagreed with its message.

Getting cut from one church service is a snub. It's not a reason to hand a Senate seat to a man she'd called a "rubber stamp for Donald Trump's dangerous agenda" in a post TheWrap pointed back to.

The people who know her best didn't buy it either. Her chief of staff walked out, and a big share of the office left too, throwing their support to El-Sayed and saying in a statement they were "shocked and heartbroken" by her choice, TheWrap reported. At her news conference with Rogers after church, she was asked how she could back someone who opposes so much of what she stands for. "Nothing is perfect," she said. Then a heckler shouted that she was a traitor, and she left with Rogers and took no more questions.

Now look at who's happy. President Donald Trump told reporters he'd called Stevens to thank her and would love to have her as a Republican, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he'd sent her a note. Once the president is recruiting you, it's hard to keep calling yourself an independent voice.

If you think El-Sayed is too far left to win Michigan, fine. Michigan Democrats voted on exactly that question in August, and he won.

What she's spending matters, too. Stevens beat El-Sayed in Wayne and Oakland counties in that primary, with support from Black and Jewish voters, Bridge reported, and turnout in Detroit could decide this race. Those voters trusted her as a Democrat. With two days left, she walked that trust over to Rogers.

Stevens says she's "still a very proud Democrat." Her state party says she isn't a member. Trump says he'd love to have her. Only one of those doors is open.

Source: bridgemi.com, retrieved November 2, 2026. Other sources: TheWrap, TheWrap (2).