Why did Democrat Haley Stevens just endorse a Republican for US Senate?

A Democratic congresswoman has thrown her support behind a Republican in one of the most closely watched races in the US midterm elections, just two days before voters head to the polls.

Haley Stevens, who lost Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August, announced on Sunday that she was endorsing Republican Mike Rogers over her own party’s nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.

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The decision follows weeks of tension between the two Democrats over Israel and has provoked a backlash within the party as it fights to win control of Congress and limit President Donald Trump’s power.

Here’s what we know.

Who is Haley Stevens?

Stevens is a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan who narrowly lost the party’s Senate primary to El-Sayed, a former public health official who could become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.

Despite a bitter primary battle, Stevens promised to support El-Sayed and said as recently as Wednesday that she still wanted him to win.

That was despite her fiance, Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat and civil rights attorney, announcing that he would vote for Rogers. Turkish accused El-Sayed of anti-Semitism, saying his rhetoric about Israel and the war in Gaza had made Jewish voters feel unsafe.

But on Sunday, Stevens changed her position.

Why did Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers?

The decision followed weeks of tension over Israel that became increasingly public in the final days of the campaign.

Stevens is a strong supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and US military aid to the country.

Their differences were also a major issue during the Democratic primary, when a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent tens of millions of dollars to back Stevens.

But the latest dispute began last week, when an independent group backing El-Sayed, Rebellion PAC, released an advertisement linking US military aid to Israel to Americans’ struggles with the cost of living.

The ad shows a couple shopping for groceries who decide to put back a carton of eggs because they need to save that money for “killing Palestinians”.

Stevens called the ad anti-Semitic and demanded that El-Sayed condemn it. She also accused him of making similar arguments by suggesting that money spent on Israel could instead go towards schools, healthcare and childcare.

El-Sayed said the ad was not produced by his campaign and that he disagreed with its message, adding that Stevens was trying to relitigate their primary rather than focusing on defeating Rogers.

The tensions came to a head on Sunday, when Stevens and El-Sayed were supposed to attend a church service together in a show of Democratic unity, but Stevens was uninvited.

“Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away,” she said in a video on X, announcing she was going to endorse Rogers.

“And he’s right. And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”

But Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who helped organise the event, said she was the one who asked Stevens not to attend, telling The Associated Press that “it had become way too distracting”.

Stevens also criticised El-Sayed’s association with political streamer Hasan Piker, whose uncle, Cenk Uygur, founded the PAC that released the ad.

Stevens told reporters on Sunday, with Rogers standing beside her: “We can’t stand with hate. We can’t stand with Hasan Piker”.

She insisted she was still a Democrat and planned to vote for Democratic candidates in 90 percent of the races on her ballot, but said her Senate vote would go to Rogers.

How have Democrats reacted?

Her decision has drawn an angry response from Democrats, including some of the party’s most senior figures.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a “despicable betrayal”, saying Senate Democrats remained united behind El-Sayed.

He brushed off questions about whether Stevens had betrayed the Democratic Party, saying he was more concerned about the issues facing Michigan voters.

“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he told reporters. “I’m just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all.”

He urged voters to focus instead on healthcare, civil rights and the differences between his campaign and that of Rogers, who is backed by Trump.

Stevens’s decision also prompted resignations within her own team. Her chief of staff for eight years, Justin German, announced that he and several other staff members had stepped down over the endorsement.

“We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’s decision to support Mike Rogers,” German said in a statement first shared by CNN.

Trump, meanwhile, celebrated her decision.

“Wow, this is BIG!” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

“Haley said what few people are willing to say,” Trump added. “It’s a thing called bravery.”

Could Stevens’s endorsement affect the Michigan Senate race?

El-Sayed and Rogers are competing to replace retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters, in a closely contested race that could help determine which party controls the US Senate.

Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress and Democrats are hoping to win enough seats to challenge Trump’s agenda and increase scrutiny of his administration.

Stevens defeated El-Sayed in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and neighbouring Oakland County, drawing support from Black and Jewish Democratic voters. Both counties are Democratic strongholds where turnout could help determine Tuesday’s result.

The question now is whether Stevens’s endorsement could convince some of her supporters to back Rogers, or discourage them from voting altogether.

Polling suggests El-Sayed has largely consolidated Democratic support, according to Reuters.

Early voting began on October 24, before the latest dispute erupted.