Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Rep. Haley Stevens' endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers will help the GOP in Michigan's closely watched Senate race, telling Fox News Digital that the Democratic congresswoman's support gives certain voters "permission" to back Rogers.
Vance made the comments at Joint Base Andrews after two rallies for Republican candidates in New York and Ohio, according to Fox News Digital. Asked about the impact of Stevens' endorsement, the vice president said: "I certainly think it helps. I mean, the message is whether you're a reasonable Democrat, a Republican, a conservative, an independent or just a liberal who loves the United States of America. El-Sayed is a crazy person and Mike Rogers is a patriot."
Vance added that the endorsement "drives home the message, maybe gives certain voters who, you know, wouldn't normally vote for a Republican permission, knowing that the Democratic Congresswoman of Michigan is going to support Mike Rogers."
Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday, according to Fox News, after a public break with El-Sayed's campaign over an outside group's advertisement that blamed the high cost of living on U.S. support for Israel. The Guardian reported that Stevens had said she would appear at a campaign event if El-Sayed denounced the ad; El-Sayed's campaign then disinvited her. Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed, said in a video posted to X that she was endorsing Rogers. "I don't belong in Abdul's campaign," she said, per Fox News.
The endorsement drew immediate backlash from Democrats. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said on CNN that Stevens had reassured her "multiple times" over the weekend that she would not endorse Rogers, according to Fox News.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Politico that "Haley Stevens made a terrible decision, blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the House Democratic caucus. We will have a discussion about appropriate next steps upon our return," Fox News reported. A senior Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar would likely support Jeffries in his response. Stevens' longtime chief of staff and communications director were among those who left her office after the endorsement, according to The Guardian, citing CNN correspondent Manu Raju.
El-Sayed's campaign said it raised more than $2.4 million after the endorsement, a record for the final days of the race, with more than 26,000 first-time contributors on Sunday, The Guardian reported. In his first public comments since the endorsement, El-Sayed told reporters, according to The Guardian: "At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens." He added, "If you are somebody who believes that we should stand up to hate, and you have watched this last campaign, I think we probably would not want to support Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and JD Vance."
Both candidates wrote opinion pieces for Fox News Digital on Monday ahead of Election Day. El-Sayed wrote that "no Michigander deserves to be left behind" and that he has held over 700 events in more than 120 cities. Rogers criticized El-Sayed's connections to far-left communist groups, according to Fox News Digital.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers served in Congress from Michigan and is the Republican nominee. Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee and former public health official. Stevens is a four-term congresswoman leaving Congress at the end of the year after her primary loss.
Our Take
Haley Stevens just handed Michigan Republicans a gift that keeps on giving. The congresswoman didn't just endorse Mike Rogers — she torched her own party's nominee on the way out, and Democrats are melting down in public. Chuck Schumer calling it a "despicable betrayal" is the sound of a party that knows it has a problem.
Vance is right: for the moderate Democrat, the independent, the union voter who has been told for years that voting Republican is beyond the pale, Stevens' endorsement is permission. It says the Democratic nominee is so far outside the mainstream that a sitting Democratic congresswoman would rather back the Republican. That's not a small thing in a state like Michigan.
And look at what El-Sayed's campaign is doing with the backlash — raising money off it, playing the victim, pretending Stevens doesn't exist. Meanwhile his own party is talking about expelling her from the caucus. This is what happens when the radical left takes over a party: the people who actually want to win start looking for the exits.
Patriots in Michigan should take note. Stevens didn't have to do this. She could have stayed quiet. She didn't. And on Tuesday, voters who have been on the fence about Rogers just got a powerful reason to pull the lever for him. The question is whether Michigan Democrats will follow their congresswoman's lead — or follow the socialist who chased her out of his campaign.
