Moments after Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) crossed party lines Sunday to endorse GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, President Donald Trump rushed to heap praise on the Michigan Democrat — even as members of her own party branded her a “traitor.”
In a move that sparked uproar, Stevens explicitly endorsed Rogers while in Detroit, going back on her previous pledge to back Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in the Democratic primary in August. In a statement published on social media, Trump called the development “BIG.”
“Congresswoman Haley Stevens, a Highly Respected Democrat, who narrowly lost in the Primary to Abdul Mohamed El-Sayed, and who has been breathlessly wined and dined by the Dumocrats to help in their Michigan Campaign for the United States Senate against Mike Rogers, has just ENDORSED Mike Rogers for Senate!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Her following is huge, and the level of respect from the People of Michigan, especially our African American and Jewish populations, is virtually unparalleled. Haley said what few people are willing to say. She showed great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the Great People of Michigan with what she did. It’s a thing called bravery, and few people have it like just displayed by Congresswoman Haley Stevens!”
Israel has been at the heart of the feud between Stevens and El-Sayed. El-Sayed has been fiercely critical of U.S. aid to Israel amid its ongoing siege on Gaza, which countless human rights groups and a United Nations committee have labeled a genocide. Conversely, Stevens has been staunchly pro-Israel, telling Michiganders during a Hanukkah celebration that “Israel comes to me in my dreams.”
