Haley Stevens endorses GOP candidate in Michigan Senate race, spurning Abdul El-Sayed

DETROIT — After months of proclaiming support for the Democratic ticket, Rep. Haley Stevens has endorsed GOP Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers over her former primary rival Abdul El-Sayed, less than 48 hours before Election Day. "As you may have seen, our Democratic nominee for U.S.

Senate, Abdul, said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away, and he's right," Stevens said in a video she posted to social media on Sunday. "And that's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the U.S. Senate today." Her statement followed a surprise appearance with Rogers at a church in Detroit.

Outside a "Souls to the Polls" event at a church in Detroit, El-Sayed told reporters that he doesn't think about Stevens and said voters do not either. "None of this matters," El-Sayed said. You can go, like, 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way, or 15 minutes that way.

And there are families who are preparing to send their kids to schools tomorrow that look like they did 50 years ago. They're worried about what they're going to feed their kids for lunch. They're worried that if one of their kids gets sick, they're not going to be able to pay the bills." In her endorsement, Stevens said she does "not stand with Hasan Piker," a streamer that El-Sayed campaigned with during the primary.

In August, after Piker implied that Jews' support for Israel puts them at risk of personal violence, El-Sayed sought to distance himself from the controversy, saying Piker did not speak for the campaign. He stopped short of disavowing Piker. Stevens had been critical that El-Sayed was not doing enough to reassure Jewish and Black voters who supported her during the primary.

Even though relations between the pair had been publicly disintegrating for weeks, Stevens' announcement was a surprise. Tensions accelerated after Stevens' fiance, Jason Turkish, said he planned to vote for Rogers. In a subsequent TV appearance, Stevens maintained she was still planning to support the Democratic nominee.