Democratic leaders turned on Rep. Haley Stevens Sunday after she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race, with Chuck Schumer accusing her of a “despicable betrayal” and the state party chair declaring she no longer belonged in the party.
The condemnation came from several prominent Democrats, including Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, after Stevens abandoned Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed just two days before the midterm elections.
“This is a despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens,” Senate Minority Leader Schumer wrote on X.
The New York Democrat defended El-Sayed and accused Rogers of serving the interests of President Donald Trump and wealthy political donors.
“Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed, because we know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of [President] Donald Trump and billionaire donors,” Schumer wrote.
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Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel delivered an even more personal rebuke, declaring that Stevens had no future in the organization.
“Congresswoman Stevens is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future,” Hertel posted Sunday.
Slotkin questioned whether Stevens was putting her personal interests ahead of Michigan voters.
“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,” the senator noted.
Newsom was less categorical, acknowledging Stevens’s right to support Rogers while repeatedly criticizing her decision.
The California governor called the endorsement an “October surprise of sorts” arriving on November 1 and described the move as “sub-optimal.”
“I don’t know enough about what ultimately led her to make that decision outside of what she said in that video, and she certainly has the right to do that, and I don’t condemn her on that basis,” Newsom explained. “I don’t agree with her and made that point clear…”
He also suggested Republicans had seized on the controversy because they had little else to discuss before Election Day.
“As I said, this was sub-optimal in every way, shape or form, and it’s an opportunity for you and your colleagues, and it’s about all you’ve got, with respect, in terms of this election,” Newsom said.
The uproar began when Stevens appeared alongside Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit instead of attending a previously scheduled campaign event with El-Sayed.
The two former congressional colleagues exchanged a hug before entering Sunday services. Later, Stevens announced her endorsement in a video posted to X.
The congresswoman, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed, claimed her former opponent had told her she was no longer welcome in his campaign.
“And he’s right. And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today,” Stevens announced. “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign. I do not stand with Hasan Piker.”
Despite backing a Republican, Stevens insisted she remained committed to her Democratic beliefs.
“I’m still a very proud Democrat, I still very much believe in everything I voted for and said,” she maintained.
Her decision also produced turmoil within her congressional office. The Detroit News reporter Melissa Nann Burke reported that members of Stevens’s official staff resigned Sunday following her appearance with Rogers.
The split had been developing for weeks over El-Sayed’s campaign rhetoric about Israel.
Stevens recently denounced an advertisement linking Americans’ rising living costs to U.S. funding for Israel’s war in Gaza. The material was originally produced for commentator Cenk Uygur’s unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.
“This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong. It is not a winning strategy for any state,” Stevens wrote last week.
She argued that Democrats should focus on housing, healthcare and tax policy rather than blame Israel for household expenses.
When CNN’s Dana Bash subsequently asked whether she would support El-Sayed in November, Stevens offered only that she was “still on the [Democrat] team.”
Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, had already announced his support for Rogers.
Turkish, a Jewish registered Democrat, attended a Republican Jewish Coalition event Wednesday in Birmingham, Michigan, where he accused El-Sayed of becoming increasingly divisive.
“I waited, and I watched and I listened for Abdul to moderate – but he didn’t moderate, he escalated,” Turkish told reporters.
He also accused the Democratic nominee of using antisemitic rhetoric that made Jewish residents feel less safe, citing his statements about Gaza and the disputed advertisement.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Turkish had influenced Stevens’s decision to appear with Rogers, although the supplied reporting does not establish his role in her endorsement.
El-Sayed had responded to Turkish’s announcement by emphasizing the election’s importance to control of the Senate.
“That’s their choice. But to me, this election is about control of the United States Senate,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed reacted on Wednesday to news that the fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) intends to vote for the GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers, telling CBS News' @aaronlarnavarro "there are always going to be some folks who have different… pic.twitter.com/GsIUPvOiQM
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 29, 2026
After Stevens’s endorsement, El-Sayed declined to engage further with questions about the couple.
“If you ask me questions about two folks not here right, I’m going to be less interested in answering.”
Trump took the opposite approach from Democratic leaders, celebrating Stevens’s decision in a Truth Social post.
“Wow, this is BIG!” the president wrote, praising the congresswoman’s standing among Michigan voters and describing her endorsement as an act of political courage.
“Haley said what few people are willing to say. She showed great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the Great People of Michigan with what she did.”
“It’s a thing called bravery, and few people have it like just displayed by Congresswoman Haley Stevens!”
