Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11) showed up to Perfecting Church in Detroit on Sunday for what was supposed to be a joint appearance with Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. He never showed. Republican nominee Mike Rogers did.
Rogers was waiting for Stevens at the front door when she arrived. He hugged her, then sat beside her during the service alongside his wife, Kristi. Video of the two seated together at the Detroit church circulated quickly online.
The appearance was supposed to go differently. Stevens announced Friday that former House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (SC-06) had arranged a meeting between her and El-Sayed at the church, billed as a unity moment given the stakes of the Senate race and the rocky relationship between the two Democrats. Stevens made her participation conditional on El-Sayed apologizing for what she described as antisemitic statements made on the campaign trail, comparing them to an ad from Rebellion PAC, a group co-founded by Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, whose nephew is Twitch streamer and El-Sayed backer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed refused to apologize or condemn anything, and kept criticizing Stevens over AIPAC’s backing of her Senate primary campaign. His campaign also told her to stay away from his remaining events. Whether the Clyburn-brokered appearance would happen at all was an open question heading into Sunday.
Instead, Stevens showed up alone and ended up next to Rogers. During the service, she told the congregation she supports investing in Black-owned businesses. “And that’s the policy that Mike’s going to take on,” she said, according to video of the moment.
A tweet circulating after the appearance read: “I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
Stevens has not formally confirmed an endorsement of Rogers. But the optics matter in a primary that was far closer than Democrats wanted. El-Sayed beat Stevens by fewer than 13,000 votes out of more than 1.5 million cast, meaning nearly half the state’s Democratic primary electorate backed her instead of him. If even a fraction of those voters follow her toward Rogers, or simply stay home, it could be decisive in a race already being watched nationally.
