Inside Haley Stevens’ last-minute endorsement switch and how not even her closest friends knew what she was plotting

Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens’ stunning last-minute endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race blindsided some of her closest friends, rocked her party two days out from Election Day and left the GOP feeling “euphoric.”But Stevens’ anger at Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democratic nominee who beat her in the primary by less than 1 percentage point, had been simmering away for months, according to friends and people close to her. Their opposing views on Israel, and Stevens feeling shut out of El-Sayed’s campaign, are at the heart of the “deeply personal” conflict between the two Democrats, which has overshadowed the final few days of the campaign in Michigan, according to The New York Times.The last straw came Saturday, when El-Sayed publicly said he no longer wanted Stevens to attend a Sunday church service with him in Detroit after she issued a punchy statement Friday calling on him to denounce an ad created by a PAC that she believed to be antisemitic. Despite the snub, she reassured prominent Democrats that El-Sayed still had her support. “She was happy about going to the church and asked me to join her,” former Michigan governor Jim Blanchard, a friend of Stevens, told The Washington Post. “This is not the Haley I know,” he said after her plans apparently changed. “This is not the Haley I had dinner with on Friday night.”Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens’ stunning last-minute endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race blindsided some of her closest friends - and could swing control of the Senate after Tuesday (AP)Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin was “totally blindsided” after he spoke to Stevens at 10 p.m. Saturday, when she assured him she was still supporting El-Sayed. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also intervened with a 25-minute phone call last week after rumors began to swirl that Stevens was going to pull her endorsement of El-Sayed, Politico reported.Stevens woke up angry Sunday morning after being snubbed by El-Sayed, according to the Times. She called up Rogers and asked if she could attend church with him instead, in a dramatic end to the months-long tension.After El-Sayed narrowly defeated Stevens in the primary in August, the pair put on a display of unity at a breakfast, where they shared a hug. Some of Stevens’ campaign staff went on to be hired by El-Sayed but their communication dropped off, people with knowledge of their relationship told the Times. Stevens was never invited to join El-Sayed on the campaign trail, and the campaign reportedly did not seek her thoughts or input.In late September, a sidelined Stevens reportedly pulled back from an op-ed in a Jewish newspaper under her name attacking Rogers, the Republican nominee. She didn’t elaborate, but said she “cannot move forward with this right now,” according to text messages seen by the Times.Stevens is not Jewish but said Friday that she is considering converting. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, is Jewish and is a donor to The American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Last Wednesday, Turkish endorsed Rogers, arguing that El-Sayed made the world less safe for Jewish people.The last straw came for Stevens came Saturday, when El-Sayed publicly said he no longer wanted her to attend a Sunday church service with him in Detroit (AFP/Getty)That’s the moment Democrats staged an intervention and tried to bring El-Sayed and Stevens together by inviting them both to a church service, arranged by fellow Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell. She facilitated the visit to a service in Detroit led by South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, an influential Black lawmaker and pastor.Stevens said she would attend on the condition that El-Sayed, who has called for the U.S. to stop funding Israel’s military, condemn an ad produced by a supportive PAC. It blamed U.S. support for Israel as a reason for high grocery prices.El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens to stay away from all future campaign events, telling her to steer clear “as not to distract from the central issues of the campaign,” Politico reported.Under pressure in Detroit Saturday afternoon, El-Sayed condemned the ad after being questioned by reporters, but also delivered the blow that he did not want Stevens to appear with him on Sunday.“I don’t want any distractions,” he said. “It seems as though other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.”Still, as of late Saturday, Stevens told top Democrats she was still behind El-Sayed and was committed to the party. Blanchard, who had dinner with Stevens Friday night, told the Post that she even texted him early Sunday confirming where the Detroit service was and that she would be there.Stevens woke up angry Sunday morning after being snubbed by El-Sayed. She called up Rogers and asked if she could attend church with him instead (Reuters)But Stevens endorsed Rogers after attending a church service with him instead, announcing the shock decision in a post on X that even his team found out about in real time. “I woke up this morning, and I decided to go to church,” she said. “I’m here with the person who I am voting for for United States Senate and that is Mike Rogers.”Raskin said he was “dumbfounded” by the turn of events. “Something doesn’t compute about this whole sequence of events,” he said.Stevens later told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she woke up Sunday morning “clear-eyed, fresh and focused on what was in my heart and that’s that.”President Donald Trump and the GOP have relished in the move. “Wow, this is BIG,” Trump wrote. “Stevens, a Highly Respected Democrat, who narrowly lost in the Primary to Abdul Mohamed El-Sayed, and who has been breathlessly wined and dined by the Dumocrats to help in their Michigan Campaign for the United States Senate against Mike Rogers, has just ENDORSED Mike Rogers for Senate!”“Haley said what few people are willing to say,” he continued. “She showed great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the Great People of Michigan with what she did. It’s a thing called bravery, and few people have it like just displayed by Congresswoman Haley Stevens!”El-Sayed, meanwhile, tried to brush off his former opponent’s endorsement. “None of this matters.”