Many of Rep. Haley Stevens’ own staff quit in protest after the Michigan Democrat endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the U.S. Senate, two days before Election Day.
Story Snapshot
- Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday, November 1, after sitting beside him at a church service in Detroit.
- Her chief of staff of eight years, Justin German, resigned the same day and said many others on her team had resigned too.
- One report said well over half of her congressional staff quit.
- German said the staff backs Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and was “shocked and heartbroken” by her choice.
What Happened: A Public Endorsement And Fast Fallout
On Sunday, November 1, Rep. Haley Stevens sat beside Mike Rogers at a service at Perfecting Church in Detroit, then announced in a video that she was endorsing him for the Senate. Stevens is a Democratic congresswoman who narrowly lost the August Democratic primary to El-Sayed, and she leaves the House when her term ends. Rogers is a former Republican congressman and his party’s nominee. El-Sayed, a former Michigan public health official, is the Democratic nominee. The two men are running for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
The same day, her staff began to walk out. German, her chief of staff since she took office in January 2019, put out a statement for the team. “We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’ decision to support Mike Rogers,” he said. He wrote that “many members of our team have resigned, including myself,” and urged people to “vote for Abdul and Democrats up and down the ballot.” Her communications director, Logan Basch, was also among those leaving, according to reports. One report said well over half of her congressional staff quit, though reports did not give an exact count. A former press secretary, Joetta Appiah, said Stevens was “walking back on everything her campaign stood for.”
Stevens’s Reasons And The Timing
Stevens said El-Sayed pushed her away first. “Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away,” she said in her video. “And he’s right,” she went on, and she said that was why she was endorsing Rogers. She also pointed to El-Sayed’s ties to Hasan Piker, an online streamer known for left-wing political talk, and said, “when you see hate, when you see us standing with Hasan Piker, and repeated hate, it’s not acceptable.” At the church she added, “I’m not turning my back on Democrats. It is this one vote.”
The split grew out of a fight over an ad. In the week before, Stevens called on El-Sayed to condemn an ad from a PAC, a political action committee, which is an outside group that spends money in elections. The ad linked grocery prices to U.S. military aid to Israel, and Stevens called it antisemitic. El-Sayed said his campaign did not make the ad and disagrees with it, and he accused her of “relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” Stevens had earlier endorsed El-Sayed. She was then asked to skip a planned unity event with him on Sunday. Rep. Debbie Dingell, a fellow Michigan Democrat, said she called off that appearance: “I’m the one who pulled it, because it had become way too distracting.”
Why This Matters For Voters In Michigan
A Democrat backing a Republican in the last 48 hours of a Senate race is rare. Rogers welcomed the news. He called Stevens “a courageous leader who deserves the respect of every Michigan voter” and described the moment as “standing together against hate.” President Trump praised her on social media as “a Highly Respected Democrat.” Republicans argued her move shows El-Sayed is too liberal for Michigan, and a Republican Party spokesman said Democrats who feel abandoned by El-Sayed “have a home” with Rogers.
Democrats answered with anger. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who backed Stevens in the primary, called it “a despicable betrayal.” Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens “is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party.” El-Sayed shrugged it off: “At the end of the day I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens.” For Stevens, the price came from inside her own office, where the people who worked for her chose to leave rather than stand behind her choice.
What Comes Next
Michigan voters go to the polls on Tuesday, November 3. Stevens has said her break is about one vote, not her party as a whole. Her former staff have said they are putting their effort behind El-Sayed. Rogers is betting that Democrats who share her concerns will follow her lead. The results will show which side read Michigan voters better.
Sources:
freep.com, thehill.com, washingtonexaminer.com, pbs.org, thehill.com
