WHITE LAKE, Mich. — Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens said she has no regrets about voting for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who defended her after fellow Democrats launched fierce criticism over her decision.
Stevens said splitting her ticket was “worth” it. She voted for Democrats in every other race, but backed Rogers instead of Abdul El-Sayed in the Senate contest.
“Voting is always worth it,” Stevens told NewsNation as she arrived at her polling place to cast her ballot.
She also predicted that Democrats would regain control of the House on Tuesday, saying she had already spoken with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
“It’s the people’s day. And I’ve told this to our next speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries: It’s majority-makers day,” she said.
Democrats broadly rejected Stevens after she voted against El-Sayed, whom she had endorsed following her narrow, one-point loss to him in a bitter August primary.
Some called for her expulsion from the party, declared her political career over and suggested that her Jewish fiancé, Jason Turkish, had pressured her to support Rogers.
Rogers, however, defended Stevens, praising her willingness to make an independent choice and condemning the attacks against her.
“I’m disappointed in how vicious they’ve been,” Rogers told reporters at St. Patrick Catholic Church, where he voted in his congressional district.
“But I think that speaks to who the modern Democratic Party is. Here’s somebody who said, ‘I voted Democrat all the way down the list, except for one person who I think is too extreme for our state.’ That’s country over party. They ought to celebrate her courage and encourage her to continue being a Democrat rather than trying to throw her out of the party. I mean, I’ve never seen such viciousness online.”
Rogers has portrayed El-Sayed, a member of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, as too far left for Michigan. Other Democrats in the state have likewise said they plan to split their tickets by supporting their party’s candidates everywhere except in the Senate race.
“She was just one of multiple Democrats who have come out and said Abdul El-Sayed is too extreme for this state. That part didn’t get covered much, but I think she was obviously the highest-profile, and it took a lot of courage for her to do that,” Rogers said.
“I’m proud of her for doing what she believed was the right thing to do.”
El-Sayed voted early. Michigan is among the few Senate battlegrounds this cycle that Republicans believe they can flip from Democratic control, putting the contest under an intense national spotlight.
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The campaign has been defined by personal attacks, identity-based political messaging and an unusually aggressive wave of negative advertising.
As Rogers voted, a giant balloon depicting Jeffrey Epstein stood across the street. The figure, more than 10 feet tall, held a sign that read: “Mike Rogers bankrolled Epstein class.”
Campaign mailers across Michigan have featured personal attacks and appeals to racial politics. One group supporting El-Sayed also aired a controversial television ad that attributed rising grocery prices to Israel.
Rogers invoked El-Sayed’s positions while speaking to voters Tuesday.
“They understand the risk of having the Democratic Socialists of America have their first statewide candidate going into the United States Senate,” he said.
El-Sayed has said he is not a DSA member, although his platform closely mirrors several of the group’s priorities, including Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ending military aid to Israel and sharply increasing taxes on wealthy Americans.
President Trump has attacked El-Sayed as a “jihadist” and alleged that he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Vice President JD Vance has called him a “psychopath.”
After Stevens endorsed Rogers, numerous Democrats also targeted her fiancé. Turkish, a 39-year-old disability lawyer and political fundraiser, is Jewish and has criticized El-Sayed’s rhetoric on Israel, saying it makes Jewish people less safe. He endorsed Rogers several days before Stevens followed suit.
Stevens called the criticism sexist.
“Some critics have also dragged my fiancé into this, suggesting he or others must have made my decision for me,” she wrote in a lengthy post on X. “Think about what that says. A woman can serve in Congress, run statewide, and fight for her convictions, and still be told that when she makes a choice people dislike, someone else must be pulling the strings.
“That is sexism dressed up as political analysis.”
Her mother, Maria Marcotte, also defended her daughter, telling The Post: “We’re not the kind of women to be brainwashed.”
The RealClearPolitics polling average showed El-Sayed ahead, although the surveys were conducted before Stevens publicly endorsed Rogers.
More than 2.4 million people had already voted in Michigan, out of nearly 8 million registered voters.
