Haley Stevens Skips Her Party's Event and Endorses Mike Rogers

Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan was scheduled to campaign Sunday with Abdul El-Sayed, the man who beat her in the Democratic Senate primary. According to the Daily Wire, she went instead to Perfecting Church in Detroit, where Republican nominee Mike Rogers was attending services, and then announced on X that she was endorsing him.

The timing is notable. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, a date that follows from the calendar and from Stevens's own "eight days" remark rather than from anything stated outright in the reporting. A sitting Democratic congresswoman backing the Republican nominee this close to the vote is the kind of move that draws attention.

According to the Washington Examiner, the move "stuns" black voters in Michigan. The Examiner's description frames the story as a test of Democrats' hold on the state ahead of what it calls a close race. How widespread any such reaction is remains hard to measure from the reporting available so far.

A Sunday Detour to Perfecting Church

The Daily Wire reported that Stevens was on the schedule to appear with El-Sayed on Sunday, November 1. She went to Perfecting Church, a Pentecostal congregation in Detroit where Rogers was attending services, and was seen hugging him as she entered.

Before going in, Stevens said she supports investing in black-owned businesses and that Rogers will take that on, according to the Daily Wire, which cited a Sam Robinson video posted on X. The Daily Wire quoted her as saying "that is a policy that Mike's going to take on." Her endorsement announcement followed on X.

We could not read Stevens's post directly; the words below come from the Daily Wire's transcription of it. In it, she said El-Sayed had told her she was no longer welcome in his campaign. That is her own account, and the Daily Wire is the only outlet in our reporting relaying it. She wrote:

"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign. I do not stand with Hasan Piker."

Stevens also invoked the late Sen. Phil Hart's seat as the "conscience of the Senate," and wrote, per the Daily Wire, "I'm still a very proud Democrat."

El-Sayed's side of the story was not part of the reporting reviewed for this story. Nothing we read confirms his account, whether he told Stevens to stay away, or when or how.

The Ad Behind the Break

According to the Daily Wire, Stevens first signaled after losing the primary that she would back El-Sayed. Her concern grew over an El-Sayed ad that blamed affordability problems on American funding for Israel's war in Gaza. The Daily Wire reported the ad was originally made for Cenk Uygur's 2024 presidential run.

Stevens, whom the Daily Wire describes as a "non-Jewish Zionist," her own long-standing description, criticized the ad about a week before the endorsement. "This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong," she said, according to the Daily Wire, which also reported she objected that it came "in eight days" from the election. We have not seen the full context of that remark. Days after the ad, she told CNN's Dana Bash she was "still on the [Democrat] team," the Daily Wire reported, with the bracketed wording the Daily Wire's edit.

Reported Fallout

Melissa Nann Burke of The Detroit News reported that members of Stevens's official staff resigned Sunday, according to the Daily Wire's relay of that report. The number of staffers and their names were not given, and it is not clear whether Stevens's office has commented.

The Examiner has also published related pieces whose headlines say Rep. Debbie Dingell argues the endorsement "backfired" as El-Sayed "rakes in donations," and that "Democrats shred" Stevens. We saw only those headlines, with no figures and no detail behind them.

The Examiner's report quotes one named voter, Michael Howard of Warren, who was in church Sunday when his phone "began blowing up." He first thought little of Stevens appearing with Rogers, assuming Perfecting Church often hosts politicians. The rest of his reaction is behind the paywall, and one voter does not establish a trend. Whether Rogers's campaign or the church arranged the appearance in advance is not known.

The Examiner is a conservative-leaning outlet and the Daily Wire is openly conservative, and both frame the episode as a Democratic setback.

What Comes Next

Voting ends Tuesday. Still to come are responses from El-Sayed and the Democratic Party, statements from black leaders in Detroit, details on the reported staff resignations, and any early-vote or turnout signals from the city.