Closing Arguments: A Democrat Endorses the Republican in Michigan's Senate Race as Both Parties Make Their Final Pitch
On the last day of campaigning before Tuesday's midterms, Democrats moved to contain a rift in Michigan after Rep. Haley Stevens crossed party lines to endorse Republican Mike Rogers — while President Donald Trump prepared a closing pitch at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and voters prepared to decide 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats.
Democrats sought on Monday to contain a rift in Michigan's Senate race after one of their own crossed party lines to endorse the Republican candidate, Reuters reported, as both parties made their final pitches on the last day of campaigning before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Michigan Democrats' Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in a bitterly contested race, publicly backed Republican candidate Mike Rogers and appeared with him at a Detroit church, threatening to worsen divisions in a state viewed as crucial to Democratic hopes of retaking the Senate.
Stevens' endorsement came on the day she was scheduled to appear with El-Sayed in a show of party unity, Reuters reported. The planned event unraveled after Stevens called on El-Sayed to condemn an outside group's ad that she said blames Israel for high grocery prices. “That ad was very painful,” Stevens told CNN on Sunday night, according to Reuters. “There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee, and they’re just being told, ‘Hey, this is a party you don’t belong in, or this is a campaign you don’t belong in.’” In a video posted to social media, she said: “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign.” Rep. Debbie Dingell said the move created a “distraction” for Democrats, and a number of Stevens' congressional staff resigned over the endorsement, according to reports from CNN and the Hill cited by Reuters.
El-Sayed's campaign answered with money. A spokesperson for the campaign said it raised $1.2 million in the four hours after Stevens endorsed Rogers, making it the campaign's second-best fundraising day since the Democratic primary election in August, Reuters reported. A New York Times/Siena poll released and partly conducted on Sunday showed El-Sayed with a 53 percent to 42 percent lead over Rogers — a survey taken largely before the endorsement landed.
The Michigan row led a closing day that also saw the Trump administration's election intervention falter in Alaska, where a federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of the results if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump closed the final campaign weekend with rallies in Salina, Kansas, and Dubuque, Iowa, and will make his closing pitch on Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Associated Press reported. On Tuesday, voters will pick candidates in 35 Senate seats and all 435 House of Representatives seats.
