Shocking last minute endorsement as Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens endorses Republican Mike Rodgers over Abdul el-Sayed

 

Michigan Representative Haley Stevens with GOP Senate candidate Mike Rodgers at a church in Detroit. CBS News/AP.

In a shocking last minute endorsement, Democratic Representative Haley Stevens has endorsed the GOP Senate candidate for Michigan, Mike Rodgers, over the Democrat's candidate, Abdul el-Sayed. CBS News. Stevens narrowly lost to Sayed in the primary race, and had previous endorsed him. The breaking point appears to be due to an independent ad made by Cenk Uygur, which blamed Israel for high grocery prices in the United States and was widely viewed as anti-Semitic. Stevens also citied Sayed's links to Uygur's notorious nephew, Hasan Piker, as a reason for her endorsement of Rodgers. The Democrats are apoplectic about the endorsement, with several staffers for Stevens quitting. 

I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. https://t.co/pQgfSBuhOJ

— Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) November 1, 2026

My Comment:

This seems like an example of a person doing the right thing too late to matter. A lot of the people that may have been persuaded by this may have already voted, especially given how often Democrats vote early compared to Republicans. Some will still vote on election day and may actually change their votes because of Stevens making a stand here, but there are going to be people that regret their vote now that it's to late to change it. 

And I agree that she's right to do this. El-Sayed is almost certainly antisemitic. His entire campaign appears to be about Israel and it seems clear to me that he doesn't like Jews as a people. And his friends Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker? There is zero doubt in my mind that both men hate Jews even outside of Israel. And, as the old saying goes, if you lay down with dogs, you end up with fleas. That's exactly what Sayed is doing by not denouncing both men. 

It comes at a time where the soul of the Democratic Party is up for grabs. The party has to decide if they want to be the old party that at least pretended to care about old Americans, or a third world party that doesn't care about anything else but wokeness and Israel. Right now it sure looks like the party is going with the 2nd option and it's going to push out comparatively moderate people like Haley Stevens out of the party. 

It's telling that Stevens is now persona non-grata for the Democrats. She has little choice now but to be a de facto Republican, even if she doesn't agree with Republicans on any other issues. Indeed, that's the biggest criticism of the current Democratic Party. There is a lot less political diversity on the Democratic side and it's very clear that the party is not a "big tent". 

I do think that some of this is personal too. I get the feeling that Stevens and Sayed despise each other and there is a lot of hurt feelings from a very close primary race. I think both sides think the other's views on Israel are evil. 

Regardless though, this endorsement came too late to affect the race that much. Unless the margin is razor thin, this came to late to actually change anything. Like I said, voting has been underway for weeks now and even the people that could have been persuaded by this have already voted. 

I do think it's possible, probable even, that el-Sayed is going to lose to Mike Rodgers. He's a political extremist and, as I have mentioned several times, I don't trust the polling whatsoever. He could still win, and that would be a shame, but I think whatever the case, the die was cast long before this endorsement from Haley Stevens.