Michigan Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens has endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers just two days before the 3 November election, despite previously warning that Rogers would “sell Michigan out” to President Donald Trump. Her reversal has led her longtime chief of staff and other aides to resign.
The warning Stevens made about Rogers
A screenshot of a post attributed to Stevens’s verified campaign account, @HaleyforMI, dated 18 November 2025, has resurfaced following the endorsement. It states:
“Mike Rogers will sell Michigan out to Trump – from rubber stamping Trump’s erratic tariffs to supporting abortion bans.”
The wording and date are corroborated by multiple public reproductions of the post. Fish 4 News has not independently retrieved the original X post, so the screenshot should be understood as a corroborated reproduction rather than a directly inspected original.
The criticism was not confined to that post. Stevens also described Rogers in August 2026 as someone who would be another “rubber stamp” for Trump’s agenda, a characterisation independently cited by The Washington Post. The contrast with her new endorsement is clear, although Stevens says her concerns about the Democratic nominee explain her decision.
Why Stevens backed the Republican
Stevens made her endorsement on Sunday, 1 November, after appearing with Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit. In a video published on her X account, Stevens said Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed had made clear that she was no longer welcome at his campaign events.
“And he’s right, and that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
Stevens, who narrowly lost the August Democratic primary to El-Sayed, also objected to his association with political streamer Hasan Piker and to the handling of an outside group’s advertisement linking the cost of living to US support for Israel. El-Sayed said the advertisement was not produced by his campaign and publicly rejected its contents. The two Democrats have disagreed over Israel and campaign tactics since their primary contest.
Stevens nevertheless said she remained a proud Democrat. Her endorsement was a decision to support Rogers in this election, not an announcement that she had formally joined the Republican Party.
Chief of staff and other aides resign
Justin German, who said he had served as Stevens’s chief of staff for eight years, announced his resignation following the endorsement. He said multiple other team members had also resigned and that they supported El-Sayed.
“We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’ decision to support Mike Rogers.”
German’s statement was reported by Axios and Mediaite. The exact total number of staff resignations has not been independently established.
Democrats condemn endorsement as Trump welcomes it
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a betrayal, while Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens had abandoned the positions she claimed to support. President Trump welcomed her support for Rogers and publicly suggested he would like her to join the Republican Party. None of those reactions establishes whether voters will follow Stevens’s lead.
El-Sayed has attempted to keep his campaign focused on voters and policy rather than his former rival. His campaign said it raised $2.4 million on Sunday after the controversy, according to Reuters. The sum is campaign-reported and not an independently audited total.
What this means for Michigan’s Senate election
El-Sayed and Rogers are contesting the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic senator Gary Peters. The race matters to the national balance of power in the Senate. El-Sayed defeated Stevens in August’s primary by around one percentage point, according to NPR’s published results.
It is not yet possible to determine whether Stevens’s endorsement will change the outcome. Some voters may share her objections to El-Sayed; others may regard her decision to support a candidate she previously criticised as a reason to back the Democratic nominee. The election takes place on Tuesday, 3 November.
Watch the report
The video below covers Stevens’s announcement and the reaction to it.
Sources
- Associated Press via Michigan Public: Stevens endorsement and campaign dispute
- Reuters: election context and fundraising claim, 2 November
- Axios: resignations and Democratic reaction
- The Washington Post: sequence of events and Stevens’s earlier criticism
- Public reproduction of the 18 November 2025 Stevens post
- Reproductive Freedom for All: statement on Rogers’s abortion record
