The Michigan congresswoman’s switch came hours after a planned Democratic unity service collapsed amid a dispute over Israel and an outside ad she called antisemitic.
By EEW Magazine Online Political News & Analysis Editors
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., left, and Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers attend a service at Perfecting Church in Detroit on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
DETROIT — Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens sat in the pews of Perfecting Church on Detroit’s east side Sunday morning alongside Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers and his wife. She then publicly endorsed Rogers about an hour later, two days before he faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race. Stevens lost the Democratic nomination to El-Sayed in August and endorsed him afterward.
Her appearance at the prominent Black congregation, founded by gospel singer and Bishop Marvin Winans, came on a day she had been scheduled to join El-Sayed at another Detroit church in a show of party unity.
Speaking briefly before entering the church, Stevens said she supports investing in Black-owned businesses, “and that’s the policy Mike’s going to take on,” according to video recorded by Michigan Chronicle reporter Sam Robinson.
“Our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away, and he’s right,” Stevens said in a video posted to social media. “And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.” In the same video, she said she does not stand with Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who campaigned with El-Sayed during the primary.
Rep. Haley Stevens, left, and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, shown at earlier campaign events. (Getty Images/Illustration by EEW Magazine Online)
Rogers said he was “honored” to have her support. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel said Stevens’ decision to campaign with Rogers “shows that she has abandoned everything she claims to care about.”
Stevens’ longtime chief of staff resigned Sunday, according to The Detroit News. Her communications director also quit, CNN reported, citing two sources.
The endorsement capped a week of escalating conflict between the former primary rivals. Stevens had been set to join El-Sayed and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn at a Sunday church service meant to show Democratic unity before Tuesday’s vote. El-Sayed’s campaign asked her to stay away from its remaining events, and Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, who helped organize the service, said she asked Stevens not to attend. “I’m the one who pulled it because it had become way too distracting,” Dingell told The Associated Press, adding that “the bishop was getting upset, because this is a real church service.”
The dispute centered on Israel. On Friday, Stevens demanded that El-Sayed condemn an ad from Rebellion PAC, an independent left-wing group led by commentator Cenk Uygur, that linked U.S. support for Israel to high grocery prices. Stevens called the ad antisemitic. She also asked El-Sayed to apologize for his own comments tying Israel to Michigan’s affordability struggles and to pull a campaign ad featuring a clip of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson criticizing Rogers.
El-Sayed’s campaign said it was “not affiliated in any way” with the Rebellion PAC ad, and El-Sayed said Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” On Saturday, he went further: “I do not agree with the contents of that ad.” Stevens welcomed that statement Saturday night and appeared with Rogers the next morning.
The rift had already reached Stevens’ household. Last Wednesday her fiancé, Jason Turkish, told The Detroit News he would vote for Rogers, saying El-Sayed had not done enough to address concerns of the Jewish community. Stevens reaffirmed her support for El-Sayed on CNN that day while urging his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”
Across town at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ on the west side, El-Sayed worshipped Sunday with Clyburn, Dingell, Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who left the Senate primary before voting began. He spoke for nearly 10 minutes without addressing the controversy. “It’s in churches like this, in pews like the ones in which you sit, that the foundation of my life was built,” he told the congregation.
Stevens carried Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and neighboring Oakland County in the August primary, drawing support from Black and Jewish voters, according to the AP. Democrats are working to drive turnout in Detroit, where roughly three-quarters of residents are Black. Early voting began Oct. 24, so some Michiganders had already cast ballots before Sunday.
The winner will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in a race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate. Michigan voters go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3.
