Democrat endorses Republican candidate in key Michigan Senate race as party spat erupts

ByAna Faguy and Nada Tawfik, North America correspondent in Detroit, Michigan.

Key points

• Haley Stevens, a sitting congresswoman who lost out on the Democratic Senate nomination to El-Sayed, created a surprise appearance alongside the Republican candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday.
• The seat is at present held by a retiring Democrat and the last time a Republican was elected to this Senate seat was in 1994.
• President Donald Trump echoed that sentiment, saying on Truth Social that " showed great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the Great People of Michigan with what she did".
• Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's US Politics Unspun newsletter.
• On Sunday, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer called Stevens' endorsement of Rogers "a despicable betrayal" of her political party.

As a spat with her own party's candidate Abdul El-Sayed escalated just days before the vote, a Democrat in Michigan has endorsed the Republican candidate in the state's crucial US Senate contest.

"I don't belong in Abdul's campaign, " she remarked in a video posted to X shortly after that appearance. "Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now." "That's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers, " Stevens remarked.

Notably, the move stunned plenty of of Stevens' fellow Democrats who condemned her decision to break from the party and switch her backing just two days before the election.

In practice, the public feud between Stevens, a centrist Democrat, and El-Sayed. This person represents the party's left-wing, has boiled over in recent days.

Stevens called on El-Sayed to denounce a campaign advert from an outside liberal group that linked US backing for Israel with high costs. El-Sayed criticised the advert and remarked he had nothing to do with its contents.

Stevens had been scheduled to appear at an event with El-Sayed on Sunday in a bid to display party unity, but he reportedly asked her not to come and she chose to attend a church service with his Republican opponent instead.

"This is a very close election, we all know that, but Abdul made clear that I was not welcome in his campaign, that he didn't need me there, that he didn't want me there, " Stevens remarked to journalists as she stood alongside Rogers outside the church.

When asked regarding Stevens' endorsement, El-Sayed stated to journalists he was focused on the challenges Michiganders are facing.

"At the end of the day, I don't think about Haley Stevens, " he remarked on Sunday. "None of this matters."

Notably, the Michigan Senate race is considered by analysts to be one of the tightest in Tuesday's midterm elections. It is one of a handful of battleground contests that will ultimately decide control of the Senate.

For context, the seat is at present held by a retiring Democrat and the last time a Republican was elected to this Senate seat was in 1994. But in presidential elections, it is one of the crucial swing states – Michigan voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but Donald Trump in 2024.

Rogers welcomed Stevens' endorsement and remarked it demonstrated "courage" during brief remarks with reporters.

While the chair of the Democratic Party in Michigan stated her decision "shows that she has abandoned everything she claims to care about", plenty of of Stevens' staff reportedly resigned immediately after her announcement.

"We reject the attempts by Stevens and bad-faith actors to divide our party and undermine our momentum, " Curtis Hertel remarked in an official note.

In downtown Detroit, a number of Democrats the BBC spoke to stated they were disappointed by Stevens' endorsement of Rogers.

"I just genuinely don't understand it, " she remarked. "I do think it's a betrayal of the party because the things she stands for are not the same things that he stands for as a Republican."

"Maybe she had frustrations with the party, " Matthew Barera, another Michigan voter, remarked.

Others, including Republicans who backing Rogers, stated they doubted it would create a difference to the race.

"Individuals can see right through her actions, you know? She's just angry, " Marissa Lee, a Rogers supporter, informed the BBC. "She is not going to make anybody change their mind."

As Stevens' criticism of El-Sayed escalated, a number of Democratic politicians in Michigan publicly encouraged her to end the feud and back the party's candidates more directly, over the weekend.

After a bruising and sometimes bitter campaign earlier this year, El-Sayed, a left-wing outsider, defeated Stevens, the establishment-backed congresswoman, to win the party's nomination for the US Senate race.

In practice, the primary, and the pair's subsequent feud, has underlined divisions over the party's direction ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Former public health official El-Sayed. This person is the son of Egyptian immigrants, has channelled grassroots frustration with Washington politics as well as US ties to Israel.

Stevens is a more centrist Democrat – and had the backing of party figures such as Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer during the primary race.

Notably, the party is hoping to regain control of the Senate in Tuesday's elections, but will need a net gain of four seats to do so. A loss in Michigan – which they at present hold – would represent a major blow and leave them needing to flip five seats.

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In short, democrat endorses Republican candidate in key Michigan Senate race as party spat is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.