Democrat endorses Republican candidate in key Michigan Senate race as party spat escalates

Haley Stevens, a sitting Democratic congresswoman, appeared alongside the Republican Senate candidate on Sunday A Democrat in Michigan has endorsed the Republican candidate in the state's crucial US Senate contest, as a spat with her own party's candidate Abdul El-Sayed escalated just days before the vote. Haley Stevens, a sitting congresswoman who lost out on the Democratic Senate nomination to El-Sayed, made a surprise appearance alongside the Republican candidate Mike Rogers at a church on Sunday. "I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," she said in a video posted to X shortly after that appearance. "Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now." "That's why I am endorsing Mike Rogers," Stevens said. EXPLAINED: Why Trump's approval rating matters in the midterms IN DEPTH: The Republicans walking a Trump tightrope When asked about Stevens' endorsement, El-Sayed told reporters he was focused on the problems Michiganders are facing. "She is not going to make anybody change their mind." The Michigan Senate race is considered by analysts to be one of the tightest in Tuesday's midterm elections, which will decide which party controls Congress for the next two years. It is one of a handful of battleground contests that will ultimately decide control of the Senate. The seat is currently held by a retiring Democrat and the last time a Republican was elected to this Senate seat was in 1994. "Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed, because we know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan," he said. After a bruising and sometimes bitter campaign earlier this year, El-Sayed, a left-wing outsider, defeated Stevens, the establishment-backed congresswoman, to win the party's nomination for the US Senate race.