Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) made a surprise appearance with Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Detroit on Sunday, following days of tensions with the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in the primary.
Stevens made the unexpected appearance with Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit and was recordedhugging him as she walked in.
Before services, Stevens said that she supports investments in Black-owned businesses and that “that is a policy that Mike is going to take on,” according to a video posted by journalist Sam Robinson of the Michigan Chronicle. She and her fiancé were photographed and recorded sitting next to Rogers and his wife inside the church.
Stevens’s appearance marked a stunning turn in events for a Democrat who insisted she wanted a Democratic victory in the Senate race. She had clashed with El-Sayed last week over a an ad from Rebellion PAC, a liberal outside group, that blames Israel for the high price of U.S. groceries. Stevens’s fiancé, Jason Turkish, said last week that he would vote for Rogers because of the ad.
El-Sayed’s campaign said he had nothing to do with the ad, and he criticized its contents Saturday. Stevens then released a statement that did not name El-Sayed saying, “I was glad to see our senate nominee say he does not agree with the content of the vile Rebellion PAC ad.”
El-Sayed and Stevens were originally scheduled to appear at a Sunday church event hosted by Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-South Carolina). But El-Sayed’s campaign asked her not to come after she released a statement criticizing his response to the ad.
While Stevens’s clash with El-Sayed appears highly personal, it also highlights fault lines within the Democratic Party that are likely to persist in Congress after the November elections and into the 2028 campaign for the presidential nomination.
The post Democrat Haley Stevens appears with Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers appeared first on Washington Post.
