Haley Stevens Endorses Mike Rogers as El-Sayed Rift Deepens - Newsweek

Democratic Representative Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's closely watched Senate race Sunday, delivering a dramatic late blow to Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed just days before an election that could help determine control of the chamber.

The endorsement came after Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed in August, appeared alongside Rogers at a church service in Detroit.

Stevens had been dropped from a planned appearance with El-Sayed the same day as an escalating dispute over Israel spilled into the closing stretch of the campaign.

The congresswoman said in a video announcing her decision to support Rogers that El-Sayed had made it clear 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," she said.

Michigan is one of the Senate seats Democrats likely cannot afford to lose if they hope to take control of the chamber.

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority and are defending 22 of the 35 seats being contested this year. Democrats need to hold all 13 Senate seats they currently control, including Michigan, and flip four Republican-held seats to reach a 51-seat majority, meaning a loss in Michigan would force them to pick up an additional GOP seat elsewhere and make their path to Senate control even harder.

A Republican victory in Michigan would therefore strengthen the GOP's position as President Donald Trump's party tries to maintain congressional control for the final two years of his presidency.

The tensions between Stevens and El-Sayed follow one of the year's most closely contested Democratic primaries.

El-Sayed defeated Stevens with 48.4 percent of the vote to 47.6 percent, a difference of fewer than 14,000 votes, according to certified results.

The primary exposed broader ideological divisions among Democrats, with Stevens supported by much of the party establishment and El-Sayed drawing support from prominent progressives. Israel and the war in Gaza were also prominent sources of disagreement between their respective supporters.

During an October debate, El-Sayed declined to say whether Iran or Israel posed a greater danger to the United States. After saying, “I don't want to be pushed into war by Israel, and I don't want to be in a war with Iran,” he was pressed to choose which country represented the greater threat. El-Sayed responded: “That's, again, a ridiculous question. I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One, at risk of attacking us. One, getting us into wars we have no business fighting.”

Some Republicans, meanwhile, have repeatedly sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood during his campaign, which El-Sayed has denied having any ties to.

Those tensions resurfaced in the final days before Election Day amid a dispute over an outside group's advertisement linking U.S. support for Israel with grocery prices.

The divide became even more personal when Stevens' fiancé, Jason Turkish, said he would support Rogers rather than El-Sayed. Turkish's decision intensified the feud shortly before the midterms, amid concerns over El-Sayed's positions and rhetoric surrounding Israel.

Stevens criticized El-Sayed's rhetoric surrounding Israel, writing Friday: "Abdul promises to get money out of politics. He can begin by getting Israel out of his explanation for everything Michigan cannot afford."

El-Sayed, meanwhile, accused Stevens of "relitigating a primary that ended three months ago."

The rift intensified over an ad from pro-Abdul El-Sayed Rebellion PAC that linked grocery costs to U.S. military aid to Israel, including a line about setting aside "$7 for killing Palestinians." Stevens called the ad antisemitic and urged El-Sayed to condemn it, while the Anti-Defamation League called it a "case study in antisemitism." El-Sayed did not produce or approve the ad and distanced himself from it.

He reiterated that he had nothing to do with that ad when asked by reporters Saturday and said he wouldn't answer additional questions about the topic.

The feud threatened a planned show of Democratic unity Sunday. Stevens had been expected to appear with El-Sayed and South Carolina Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn, but Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell told the Associated Press that she asked Stevens not to attend because the situation had become "way too distracting."

Stevens instead appeared with Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit before announcing that she would support the Republican.

Some Republicans have repeatedly sought to link El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, but the claims were made without supporting evidence.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas raised the allegation during an August Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing where he connected El-Sayed to the Islamist movement.

Rogers also confronted El-Sayed about alleged Muslim Brotherhood associations during their final debate. El-Sayed denied belonging to the organization and criticized Rogers for invoking his family while advancing the accusation.

“He keeps raising this question about this association with an organization I’ve never been a part of,” El-Sayed said. “It doesn’t make any sense and it’s actually really quite beneath you, Mike.”

Trump recently called El-Sayed a "Muslim radical" and said he was a member of the Islamist organization.

"To the people of Michigan: Mohamed El-Sayed is bad news. He's a Muslim radical. He's a Muslim Brotherhood member, even though he denies it," Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social last month.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928. Some governments have banned the organization or designated it as a terrorist group, but the United States has not designated the Muslim Brotherhood in its entirety as a foreign terrorist organization.

Recent polling has generally shown El-Sayed ahead of Rogers, although the size of his advantage varies.

A CNN/SSRS poll conducted October 20 to 27 found El-Sayed leading Rogers 49 percent to 42 percent among likely voters. The survey of 768 likely voters had a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.

A Marist survey conducted October 15 to 18 showed a considerably closer contest, with El-Sayed at 50 percent and Rogers at 48 percent among likely voters. That two-point difference was within the survey's 4.3-percentage-point margin of error.

An earlier YouGov poll also showed a narrow race, with El-Sayed at 49 percent and Rogers at 48 percent.

The surveys were conducted before Stevens' endorsement of Rogers, meaning they do not measure whether her late defection will affect the race.

Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Anthony Murray and Steve Mollman.