El-Sayed raises $2.4 mn after Democrat Haley Stevens backs Republican Mike Rogers

Democrats' Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed raised more than two million dollars following a stunning defection by Democratic Representative Haley Stevens, who threw her support behind Republican Mike Rogers. She publicly backed Rogers and appeared with him at a Detroit church. Since then, El-Sayed's campaign has received over $2.4 million in contributions from voters. It is El-Sayed's second-largest campaign donation, since he beat Stevens in a bitterly contested August primary election, which totalled $2.4 million.

"I don't ‌belong in Abdul's campaign," Stevens said in a video posted to social media.

Democratic National Committee produced a joint fundraising email with El-Sayed, suggesting that Steven wanted the race to be about politicians rather than voters, according to Politico. DNC headed by headed by Ken Martin, also released a statement calling Stevens’ endorsement “a betrayal of the values of the Democratic Party.”

Stevens is a strong supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and US military aid to the country. The dispute spread after an Ad by Rebellion PAC, which circulated an ad suggesting the inflation was linked to the US aid to Israel. El-Sayed said it was not produced by his campaign and that he disagreed with its message, adding that Stevens was trying to re-litigate their primary rather than focusing on defeating Rogers.

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“At a moment when Democrats are united in fighting for Michigan families and standing up to Trump’s agenda, we reject these efforts to sow division within our party,” Martin wrote. “We will not allow last-minute political stunts to derail our momentum, and we will triple down on our efforts to elect Abdul El-Sayed on Tuesday.”

Stevens had received tens of millions of dollars in funding for the primary from AIPAC. According to the AIPAC tracker, Steven has received more than $35 million in the campaign from the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project. She has voted against Representative Thomas Massie’s amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion in unconditional US military aid to Israel. In 2025, she also voted to sanction the International Criminal Court after it issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza.