Abdul El-Sayed brushes off Haley Stevens’ GOP endorsement days before Michigan election

The Democratic Senate nominee says he is focused on Michigan voters and policy after Stevens reversed her support and backed Republican Mike Rogers.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed says he is focused on voters and policy after Rep. Haley Stevens reversed her earlier support and backed his Republican opponent just days before Election Day.

In a video shared by NBC News, El-Sayed responded to Stevens’ announcement by emphasizing that he was more concerned with the needs of Michigan residents than the dispute between the two Democrats.

“At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens. I think about 9,999,998 people who are not those two,” Abdul El-Sayed said, adding that he was “less interested in the politics of it all” than in policy.

Haley Stevens, a Democratic congresswoman who lost the party’s Senate primary to El-Sayed, announced her endorsement of Rogers on Sunday, November 1, just two days before the November 3 election. The announcement marked a reversal from her earlier public commitment to support the Democratic nominee. Stevens had reaffirmed that position in a CNN interview days before announcing her endorsement of Rogers.

In a video explaining her decision, Stevens said El-Sayed had made clear that she was no longer welcome in his campaign and that she should stay away. She also criticized his association with political commentator Hasan Piker. The disagreement followed growing tensions over an advertisement from an outside political group that Stevens characterized as antisemitic. The advertisement linked U.S. support for Israel to economic pressures in Michigan. El-Sayed’s campaign said it was not affiliated with the advertisement, and he publicly distanced himself from its contents.

The two Democrats had been expected to appear together at a Detroit church service alongside prominent Democratic figures. Instead, Stevens attended a service with Rogers, while El-Sayed appeared at a separate event with Democratic allies. Stevens’ endorsement drew criticism from several prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel.