The embarrassing Michigan mess offering Trump last-minute hope

Sunday was supposed to be the day when two one-time rivals in the Democratic race to represent Michigan in the US Senate finally buried the hatchet. The party had scheduled a “unity rally”, where primary challenger and Congresswoman Haley Stevens would appear alongside Abdul el-Sayed and endorse him in the final days before the midterm elections. To say things didn’t go to plan would be the understatement of the century. Instead, what happened has given Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues a glimmer of hope after months of depressing polls and headlines. In the days before the Democrat rally, relations between Stevens’s camp and Sayed’s team publicly soured. Shorts Stevens had attacked Sayed during the primary over his friendship with controversial leftist influencer Hasan Piker, as well as their differing views over Israel. And just when Democrats were looking for a last push to win a crucial Senate seat – which could be vital for control of the chamber – Stevens reignited those issues, demanding that Sayed condemn a TV advert run by a group supporting him. Stevens was disinvited from the unity rally. On Sunday morning, she went further, being pictured attending church alongside Mike Rogers, the Republican running against Sayed, who she then endorsed – a move that visibly stunned her own party and even her own staff. Stevens was immediately denounced for what was seen as a spectacular betrayal. Her long-time chief of staff and communications directors both resigned on the spot, issuing a statement declaring themselves “shocked and heartbroken” by her decision to endorse Rogers, a Maga Republican who has promised to further Trump’s agenda. Stevens remains a member of the House of Representatives until January 2027, having been elected as a Democrat in 2024. She has ensured her last months in office will be tumultuous, and that the last days of the current election campaign are chaotic. Abdul el-Sayed at a campaign rally. Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Sayed, making racial insinuations about his Islamic faith and outright calling him a ‘Jihadist’ (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty) For Democrats, they have one chance to take control of the House and the Senate from Republicans during Trump’s remaining term in office, and with just 48 hours left to go, one of their own switched sides in the most public way imaginable. Curtis Hertel, the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, posted shortly after Stevens’s endorsement that “Congresswoman Stevens is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future”. For her part, Stevens recorded a short video explaining her endorsement of Rogers, saying that she could not tolerate the “hate” of Sayed’s campaign, owing to his refusal to disavow Piker, a pro-Palestine influencer who has said Israel has no right to exist “in its current formation”. This might have been consistent with Stevens declining to endorse Sayed, but it leaves some awkward questions as to why she has instead chosen to endorse a pro-Trump Republican. In the last week alone, the President has repeatedly attacked Sayed, making racial insinuations about his Islamic faith and outright calling him a “Jihadist”. Sayed would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate”, Trump said at one rally. Similarly, Trump has attacked Somali Americans, calling Somalia a “shithouse” and collectively suggesting its people are “low IQ”. He has suggested Congresswoman Ilhan Omar isn’t a real American and claimed she was biologically related to her husband. If that wasn’t enough, Trump’s friend and ally Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio, spent the last weeks of his campaign running ads featuring his opponent’s estranged mother, who claims she was lying about sexual abuse received as a child. The move even disgusted Republicans. Vivek Ramaswamy has become one of the most divisive candidates during the US midterms. He is seen here with Donald Trump at a campaign rally (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty) Stevens says she cannot tolerate “hate”, and yet she has lined herself up with and seemed to endorse just that – a decision she struggled to explain in a rambling and confused interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday night. At least one person was delighted, however: Trump referred to Stevens as “a highly respected Democrat” in a post on Truth Social. He went on to claim: “Her following is huge, and the level of respect from the people of Michigan, especially our African American and Jewish populations, is virtually unparalleled.” Trump later suggested that Stevens should defect to the Republican Party – something she may find herself having to do, as her prospects with the Democrats look dim indeed. As for the election, Stevens might find she has less influence than she had hoped. The final New York Times-Sienna poll before votes are cast suggests that Sayed has a commanding 11-point lead over Rogers, though other polls show a tighter race. More significantly, 96 per cent of voters who backed Stevens in the primary said they planned to vote for Sayed. Trump is evidently delighted by the turn of events, but it’s likely too little, too late. Still, it has given the President one good day where he can try to ignore the fact that so much else seems to be going against him. US commentators like to talk about “October surprises” – last-minute events that change the course of elections. Stevens has managed the rare November surprise, in its very last minutes. But whether she’s done anything more than torch her own credibility and career won’t be clear for another few days.