Trump Courts Haley Stevens for GOP After Michigan’s Democratic Chair Shuts Her Out of Party

President Donald Trump wasted no time in courting Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens to change colors to the GOP on Sunday after the congresswoman endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for Senate over her former Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed. Steven’s defection to Rogers was roundly ridiculed among Democrats on Sunday, with prominent leaders like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders all denouncing the congresswoman’s decision to reject El-Sayed as a betrayal to the party at large. Michigan’s Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel later announced that Stevens is no longer “a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future.” The president told reporters Sunday that he called Stevens and thanked her for doing “the right thing” by endorsing his supporter Rogers, whom she previously criticized as a “rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda.” “I’d love to have her,” Trump added when asked if he thinks she should join the Republican Party. The president then handed the spotlight to Speaker Mike Johnson, who said that he’d also sent Stevens a note of thanks for her action on Sunday. Q: Do you plan to reach out to Haley Stevens?Trump: Yes, to thank her. Q: Do you think she should be a member of the Republican Party? Trump: I’d love to have her. Johnson: I sent her a note. pic.twitter.com/dF3X4HTgxc— Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2026 “I sent her a note and told her how great she was and how much we appreciated that. She’s standing for truth,” Johnson said. “Haley is a good person, she’s always been very thoughtful, she loves her state, she’s served in it as best she could and she’s speaking the truth. This is a contest election between common sense and crazy, and there is no crazier choice on the ballot than El-Sayed, what he stands for, and he needs to answer for that.” Tensions have been mounting between El-Sayed and Stevens all week after the congresswoman called on the Democratic nominee to denounce an “antisemitic” ad that linked U.S. military aid to Israel and prices spiking in the grocery store. The ad came from an outside group, and El-Sayed said he disagreed with its message but criticized Stevens for “relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” In the lead-up to a scheduled unity event on Sunday with Stevens, El-Sayed asked the congresswoman to stay away from future campaign events ahead of Tuesday’s midterms. “I would rather not distract from the key issues of this campaign,” he said Saturday. The rift between the two apparently irreparable, Stevens abandoned her support of the Democratic ticket and endorsed Republican opponent Rogers on Sunday, leading to widespread outcry from within her party and resignations from her longtime staff. “As you may have seen, 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, and that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today,” Stevens said in an Instagram video. “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign … I’m just letting you know where I am. I’m still a very proud Democrat. I still very much believe in everything I voted for and said, and I’ve worked really hard, and will continue to do so in all the ways life’s opportunities afford.” Responding to the about-face from his former Democratic opponent on Sunday, El-Sayed told press, simply, “None of this matters.”