Commentary Culture Investigations

Robert VerBruggen, City Journal Quantifying in dollar terms the toll taken by a horrific event and its many consequences.

William Buckley, DC A bar in Michigan posted a statement apologizing for hosting an event endorsing Democrat Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens.

DUBUQUE, Iowa—President Donald Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson said they would welcome Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens to the Republican Party following her stunning endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers for Senate in Michigan two days before voters head to the polls in what has become the nation’s most contentious race.
Speaking with reporters ahead of a Sunday rally in Dubuque, Iowa, Trump said the GOP “would love to have” Stevens inside the GOP tent. He was responding to a question from the Washington Free Beacon about the Democrat’s endorsement of Rogers.
President Donald Trump, alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, speaks with reporters ahead of a rally in Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Thomas Catenacci/Washington Free Beacon)
Johnson said he had spoken to the Democratic congresswoman and that she “did a heroic and important thing for the country.”
“I sent her a note, spoke to Haley, and told her how great she was, how much we appreciate that she’s standing for the truth,” Johnson added. “She is a good person. 
She’s always been very thoughtful. She loves her state and has served it as best she could. And she’s speaking the truth.”
Johnson said he told Stevens to “stay safe.” In response to a follow-up question about whether he feared for Stevens’s safety, the speaker added that “we are in a heightened threat environment.”
“There are dangerous people out there,” Johnson said. “Of course—she and her fiancé have been getting a lot of threats.”
Trump interjected: “They’re dangerous—they’re jihadists,” he said. “He’s a Muslim Brotherhood guy,” Trump added, referring to Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
“Yeah, I’d say she’s in danger,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump delivers a campaign speech during a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Thomas Catenacci/Washington Free Beacon)
The comments from Trump and Johnson cap what has been a whirlwind 48 hours in Michigan.
On Friday, Stevens raised eyebrows when she released a statement saying she would attend a Sunday “unity” event with El-Sayed at a black church in Detroit, but demanded El-Sayed condemn an antisemitic ad produced on his behalf blaming Jews for higher food prices.
Instead of issuing such a statement, El-Sayed blasted both Stevens and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, then disinvited Stevens from the event. “Our campaign has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing. That focus is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70M in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens,” he said.
Stevens initially indicated she would still back El-Sayed. Then she was spotted with Rogers at a different Detroit church on Sunday morning and released a video formally endorsing him during the service.
“This was a personal and private decision,” Stevens told reporters outside of the church. “I woke up this morning and I decided to go to church. And I’m here with the person who I am voting for for United States Senate, and that is Mike Rogers.”
Stevens has now found herself isolated among Democrats. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who recruited Stevens to run for Senate, called her endorsement of Rogers a “despicable betrayal.” Michigan Democratic Party chairman Curtis Hertel said Stevens “is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future.” And Stevens’s chief of staff and communications director resigned.
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The Elitist Media were shocked and stunned by news of U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens’ endorsement of former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) against Abdul el-Sayed for the United States Senate. The news triggered a veritable meltdown. This was not supposed to happen. In fact, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) went on NBC’s Meet the Press and assured host Kristen Welker and her viewers that Stevens was voting a straight Democrat ticket:Rep. Jamie Raskin represents to @MeetThePress viewers that Haley Stevens is most assuredly voting the Democrat ticket. Stevens would then go on to make a joint appearance with fmr Rep. Mike Rogers at a Detroit church.JAMIE RASKIN: And Haley Stevens, she wants me to represent to… pic.twitter.com/fRd4yWL7H4— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 1, 2026 KRISTEN WELKER: Let’s start with the dramatic developments out of Michigan. You have this last-minute interparty fighting between Abdul el-Sayed and his challenger in the primary, Haley Stevens. She has criticized his views on Israel. She’s upset that he hasn’t disavowed an ad that he had nothing to do with that she says was anti-semitic. Let me ask you, could this cost Democrats the seat in Michigan?JAMIE RASKIN: No. I spoke last night to Haley Stevens and I spoke to Abdul as well. And my wonderful friend Haley Stevens, she wants me to represent to you and everybody else I talked to that she is voting straight down the line on the Democratic ticket and she will be celebrating with Democrats across the country when we win on Tuesday night. And this is inside-the-Beltway- inside baseball imbroglio and so- I believe we will have a landslide in Michigan for lots of candidates like Callie Barr in the 1st District, like Sean McCann, there- I think Michigan’s going to be in great shape and the Democrats have really never been more unified or more focused because everybody understands the big picture here. Are we going to have progress under Democratic government or are we going to have continuing corruption under authoritarian chaos with Donald Trump and all of his MAGA followers? That’s the big picture here. Haley gets it, Abdul gets it. And I think what we’re going to see on Tuesday night is a reflection of that.WELKER: All right, Well, we’ll watch and see how that one unfolds.Welker didn’t show the slightest bit of journalistic curiosity. When did Stevens tell Raskin that she was voting for a straight ticket? We never know. Welker instead moved on to trying to get Raskin to downplay what is happening in Alaska. We did learn the truth a little later, though: I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. https://t.co/pQgfSBuhOJ— Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) November 1, 2026 And how did the Elitist Media handle this bombshell of a November Surprise? Pretty much as you would expect. Here’s MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff lamenting that Mike Rogers has not sufficiently condemned Islamophobia: MICHIGAN MELTDOWN: In the wake of Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Mike Rogers in #MISEN, MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff laments Rogers’ lack of denunciation of…Islamophobia.JACOB SOBOROFF: What you’re watching right now is an Earth-shattering moment, I think it’s fair to say in… pic.twitter.com/7fqeie3zdr— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 1, 2026 JACOB SOBOROFF: What you’re watching right now is an Earth-shattering moment, I think it’s fair to say in Democratic politics. The Democratic loser of the primary election in Michigan, Haley Stevens, who had said she would endorse Dr. Abdul el-Sayed, a Rhodes scholar, an epidemiologist who won the primary election in Michigan, has now withdrawn her support and has endorsed the Republican Mike Rogers in the election. After a back-and-forth feud over the course of the last several days between el-Sayed and Haley Stevens, Mike Rogers stepped to the podium and he invoked Jews. He invoked Jews in Michigan, talking about anti-semitism and fears that Jewish people in Michigan have- he did not mention, unless I missed it, the incredible amount of Islamophobia and bigotry that has been put forward in this race, including by him himself, using euphemisms and at some points, specific words like “terrorism” and “terrorist” in talking about Abdul el-Sayed, the candidate, the Democratic nominee for senate in the State of Michigan. And as they appear there together today after going to a service at a black church in Detroit, Michigan, a lot of questions for Haley Stevens to answer, of course.Leave it to Soboroff to include a lamentation for the Rhodes Scholar el-Sayed, while never addressing the substance of that Drove Stevens to endorse Rogers. There were basic things that the nominee could’ve done to smooth things over. Among them: denouncing a recent vile anti-Israel ad, and denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood. But el-Sayed has steadfastly refused to do these things. Thus, all of the onus for preserving Democrat unity is on Stevens.The media immediately sought to identify the purest, truest, victim of Stevens’ switch: the Democrats’ chances of taking the Senate. First question out of the chute from CNN: Are you concerned for the harm this could do to the Democratic Party? Way to establish the truest, purest victim of Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers https://t.co/OP5AMeKueQ— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 1, 2026 Back to MS NOW, host Antonia Hylton gave Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams several minutes to bash Stevens, but not before mentioning that she was “heartbroken” at the fact that the endorsement happened at a black church: WATCH: MS NOW gives Stacey Abrams 4 minutes to bash Haley Stevens’ decision to endorse Mike Rogers- host Antonia Hylton is “heartbroken” https://t.co/AkHj5qb1jy— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 1, 2026 There appears to be an early narrative congealing that accuses Stevens of endorsing Rogers out of personal spite, and in a manner that is exploitative to black people. Neither these critics nor their enablers in media address the fundamental issues that drove Stevens away: el-Sayed’s refusal to address some of Stevens’ fundamental concerns that put her on ice in the first place.The media’s reaction so far has been either to ignore lingering concerns about el-Sayed’s adjacency to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan Piker and other islamists, or to accuse the people expressing these concerns of lingering Islamophobia, as Soboroff does.When Liz Cheney broke from the Republican Party and came out in support of Kamala Harris, she was hailed as a profile in courage. At what point does Haley Stevens get similar treatment? Or is the standard (D)ifferent for her?  

Left-wing politics by another name.

DETROIT — Michigan Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens on Sunday endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, saying she objects to the “hate” promoted by her Democratic primary opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, and some of his high-profile supporters.
“If Mike Rogers can share his vision clearly, precisely, answer questions, and if he comes across honestly, transparent—I think it could [change minds],” one woman told the Washington Free Beacon as she left Perfecting Church in Detroit.
Above all, the rising tension between Stevens and El-Sayed—of which Stevens’s endorsement of Rogers was simply an exclamation point—has become the defining media narrative in the closing days of the race. For the past week, Stevens, who had not appeared on the campaign trail alongside El-Sayed, had been making increasingly awkward television appearances, making clear the relationship between the two had grown untenable. It is presumably not the note on which El-Sayed would have wanted to close the race, and he refused even to discuss the explosive news when pressed about it by reporters.
“If you want to ask me questions about the issues the people in my state are facing,” El-Sayed told reporters on Sunday, “I am happy to answer them. If you want to ask me questions about some intrigue and about two folks who aren’t here right now, I’m going to be less interested in answering, just putting it out there.”
Stevens had backed El-Sayed, albeit tepidly, after losing to him in the primary and made the surprise endorsement in a video posted to X on Sunday while she and Rogers sat next to each other in the church. Her announcement came two days after El-Sayed publicly disinvited her from his own Sunday appearance at a black church in Detroit that also featured Stevens’s mentor, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.). Stevens had demanded El-Sayed condemn an antisemitic ad run on his behalf by Cenk Uygur, the uncle of El-Sayed campaign surrogate and anti-American streamer Hasan Piker. Instead, El-Sayed released a statement criticizing Stevens and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“We can’t stand with hate. We can’t stand with Hasan Piker,” Stevens told reporters after the morning service. “All I can do is lead with love and integrity.”
“This was a personal and private decision,” she continued. “I woke up this morning and I decided to go to church. And I’m here with the person who I am voting for for United States Senate, and that is Mike Rogers.”
Democratic leaders had hoped Stevens’s planned “unity” appearance with El-Sayed would help the Democratic nominee repair his strained relationships with the Jewish and black communities, voting blocs that Stevens carried during her narrow primary loss to El-Sayed in August. But just two days after the announcement of the event on Friday, Stevens was in Detroit stumping for Rogers.
“Abdul was very clear. He said, ‘Don’t come,’” Stevens said on Sunday. “When it really comes down to it, this is how I’m casting my ballot.”
Rogers told reporters outside the church that he “got the call this morning” from Stevens, and that he was “honored to have earned [Stevens’s] vote.”
“When young Jewish women have to hide their Star of Davids to walk across the University of Michigan campus, we have gone too far. When young men have to wear ball caps over their yarmulkes, for being Jewish, we have gone too far,” Rogers said. “This is more a statement about standing together against hate and the future of this state and this country than it is anything else.”
Church attendees told the Free Beacon that they were encouraged to see the display of bipartisanship at the service and that it might even change some votes.
“I thought [the joint appearance] was interesting. It could be taken as bipartisan, people working together on both sides, Democrat and Republican. That could be a good thing,” the first churchgoer said. “But it also could be a dig [that] elevates the tension,” she added.
Another woman leaving the church said she hadn’t “made up her mind yet” on the election, but was “very pleased that [Rogers] did stay for the whole service.”
“We do have a lot of candidates who come when they’re running for something, and he did stay for the whole service,” she said. “So I appreciate that.”
The post Detroit Churchgoers Say Haley Stevens’s Stunning Endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers Could Move Votes appeared first on .

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