Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens faces fierce backlash in her own party for endorsing a Republican candidate

Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens has sparked fierce backlash from members of her own party after her shocking last-minute endorsement of Mike Rogers, a Republican Senate candidate. President Donald Trump praised the sudden switch.

Stevens narrowly lost in the Democratic primary for Senate to Abdul El-Sayed. She announced her support for Rogers after a feud with the El-Sayed campaign over an outside group's campaign ad that blamed the high cost of living on US support for Israel.

Stevens had said she would appear at a campaign event if El-Sayed denounced the advertisement. El-Sayed's campaign then disinvited her, and the endorsement of Rogers followed that dispute.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader and a Democrat from New York, described the move as a despicable betrayal. He posted on social media that Senate Democrats are united in their support for Abdul El-Sayed, because they know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, whom Schumer called a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors.

California representative Nancy Pelosi posted that Stevens had chosen to dangerously betray Michigan families' healthcare, freedoms and future with her horrific endorsement.

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani said working-class people's lives are on the ballot on Tuesday, and that Haley Stevens had betrayed them by endorsing the very Republican she said she wanted to run against.

Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said in a post that Stevens was not a member of the party nor would she be in the future. In a video shared by Detroit journalist Sam Robinson, Hertel was asked why he thought Stevens made the endorsement. He said there were obviously sour grapes from the election, but no reasonable explanation; he had known Haley Stevens for a long time and knew what she had fought for in her career, and this was the antithesis of all of that.

Debbie Dingell, a Democratic representative from Michigan, said in a statement that the state's residents were focused on the cost of living, healthcare and housing, not on Congresswoman Stevens' continued efforts to get attention.

While some Democrats and Jewish leaders also condemned the advertisement for El-Sayed, congressional nominees Brad Lander and Daniel Bliss, both Jewish Democrats, issued a statement on Sunday encouraging voters to support El-Sayed, without mentioning Stevens. They said that in the closing days of the election voters must remember the true choice: one candidate represents a party that has stoked hatred, gutted anti-discrimination efforts and remained silent in the face of President Trump's corruption and authoritarianism, while the other represents the promise of accountability, affordability and a more equitable, just and democratic future.

Meanwhile, Trump praised Stevens' endorsement of Rogers on his platform Truth Social and described her as a highly respected Democrat. He continued to support Stevens during a campaign rally on Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa, even welcoming her to join the Republican Party. Trump said he would love her to join the Republican Party and thought that could happen, and that she had shown great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the great people of Michigan.