Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the United States Senate on Sunday after saying she was no longer welcome at a Democratic event. In a video, Stevens said, “Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away,” before adding, “And he's right. And that's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.” Jeanne Shaheen is not part of the dispute, but the race is moving inside the final weekend before Election Day.
Stevens, a Michigan congresswoman, framed the break as a direct response to being pushed out of the campaign orbit around Abdul El-Sayed. Her endorsement matters because it comes from a Democrat in a state where Democrats were trying to retake the Senate, and it gives Rogers a cross-party boost at the end of a tightly timed midterm campaign.
Michigan Senate and Abdul El-Sayed
Stevens said a Democratic event invitation was rescinded, then went public with support for Rogers in Michigan. That put a Democratic congresswoman on the opposite side of her party’s Senate nominee in the final stretch, with the endorsement landing after months in which the Michigan Senate race had already become one of the most closely watched contests on the board.
The shift also sharpened the contrast inside the race. Stevens had been linked to Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign, then said she was no longer welcome there and should stay away. Her decision gave Rogers a fresh line of attack to use in a contest where party labels normally harden rather than cross over.
Donald Trump rallies in Iowa and Kansas
Donald Trump spent Sunday on the road in Salina, Kansas, and Dubuque, Iowa, as part of a final push that had taken him across the country since Oct. 1. He told supporters in Dubuque, “We're going to elect 'America first' Republicans up and down the line,” then in Kansas said, “This is our last stop. We're closing it down tonight.”
Trump had already held more than two-dozen rallies in 19 states during that stretch, a pace that underscored how much of the campaign had been compressed into the last few days before Election Day. More than 54 million votes had already been cast, so the political fight was no longer only about persuasion; it was also about what kind of turnout remained to be mobilized before Tuesday.
Washington before Election Day
Trump was scheduled to give his closing pitch of the midterm elections on Monday in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. That appearance was set to come one day before Election Day, the final public argument before voters finished a race in which Democrats were trying to retake the Senate while Republicans were defending their majorities.
For Stevens, the immediate consequence is not procedural but political: her endorsement gives Rogers a public break from a Democratic figure at a moment when every late signal can influence how voters read a competitive Senate race. The open question is what effect that rupture will have on Michigan as the campaign reaches Tuesday.
