Democrat endorses Republican candidate in key Michigan Senate race as party spat escalates
Haley Stevens, a former congresswomen who lost out on the Democratic nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, endorses his opponent days before the vote.
Democrat backs Republican in crucial Michigan Senate race as party dispute intensifies
A Democrat in Michigan has thrown her support behind the Republican contender in the state’s hard-fought US Senate race, as a clash with her own party’s candidate Abdul El-Sayed grew more heated just days before the election.
Haley Stevens, a former congresswoman who lost the Democratic nomination to El-Sayed, made an unexpected appearance with Republican candidate Mike Rogers at a church on Sunday.
“I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” she said in a video posted to X soon after the 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 said.
Stevens also said El-Sayed had told her she was no longer welcome in his campaign.
The two had been set to appear together at an event on Sunday, but El-Sayed reportedly asked her not to attend.
They had publicly sparred over a campaign ad from a liberal group that blamed Israel for high food prices.
El-Sayed, who has not responded to Stevens’s endorsement of his rival, criticised the ad and said he had nothing to do with its contents.
Analysts view the Michigan Senate race as one of the closest in Tuesday’s midterm elections, which will determine which party controls Congress for the next two years.
It is one of several battleground races that will ultimately decide control of the Senate.