Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens faced hard questions from her liberal interviewer about her last-minute decision to endorse Republican Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race on Sunday.
“Your fellow Michigan congresswoman, Debbie Dingell, said that she talked to you at midnight last night and that you told her you were not going to endorse Mike Rogers. If that is true, what changed between then and this morning?” CNN host Anderson Cooper asked.
Stevens responded, “This is just a weight off my shoulders, OK? Abdul has been getting angrier and angrier. I was trying to help, and I endorsed him. That [Rebellion PAC] ad was very painful. There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee. And they’re just being told, ‘Hey, this a party you don’t belong in, or this is a campaign you don’t belong in.’ And I’ve never cast a present vote in the Congress. I’m making a decision here, and you know, that’s just where I landed on this. I woke up this morning… clear-eyed, fresh and focused on what was in my heart and that’s that.”
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Stevens announced her endorsement of Rogers on Sunday in a stunning about-face, following El-Sayed saying, in her words, she was “no longer welcome in his campaign.” El-Sayed edged Stevens in their hotly contested Democratic primary race for the Senate nomination.
The endorsement followed a controversial ad put up by Rebellion PAC, founded by The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, in support of El-Sayed’s campaign, which Stevens called antisemitic. She demanded El-Sayed condemn the ad and his campaign said it was not affiliated with the ad. El-Sayed said he disagreed with its contents, which showed grocery shoppers blaming Israel for rising prices.
Cooper continued questioning Stevens about what prompted her change of heart.
“I had some time to, you know, think. I wasn’t on the phone, I think, that late, but I know Debbie’s always working around the clock,” Stevens said. “It might not have been midnight when I spoke with her. But I was there, and just alone with my thoughts. I was writing things out. And look, this level of anger, and the things that we are seeing, look, we all want Democrats to win. I’m a really proud Democrat. And by the way, Abdul’s got every other Democrat with him. He just doesn’t have me and a few other people who love this party. Nothing with me changed, Anderson.”
Cooper asked about an August social media post in which Stevens criticized Rogers, writing, “Mike Rogers will be another rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda, we can’t afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November.”
Asked why she was now supporting Rogers, Stevens pointed to El-Sayed and criticized what she described as his “anger” and “lack of kindness.” At one point in the interview, Stevens said that it sounded like Cooper was angry with her as well, as he argued she wasn’t answering his questions.
“It sounds like last night was a really big night where a lot built up what the turning point was,” Cooper said.
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“That’s your assumption, Anderson,” Stevens said. “I mean, that’s your editorializing. I certainly didn’t say that.”
“But you were willing to be at a campaign event for him [El-Sayed],” Cooper said. “You wanted to be at a public event with him up until some point, I guess, yesterday. And it’s just an interesting change. And I think a lot of people are curious to try to understand it.”
Stevens paused for several seconds before asking, “Was that a question, Anderson, or –”
“No, I wanted to see if you wanted to fill in silence, but you don’t,” Cooper said.
Stevens paused again before saying Michiganders were going to the ballot box, and she had made her “proclamation clear.”
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Adrian Hemond, the CEO of Michigan-based consulting firm Grassroots Midwest, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “This endorsement would have had far more impact if she had done it a month ago. More than 2 million people have already voted.”
Stevens’ office did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The Rogers campaign also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zeteo founder and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan called Stevens a “train wreck” in the interview.
Republican CNN contributor Shermichael Singleton said he felt sorry for Stevens in response to the interview.
Dingell, who came on CNN to speak with Cooper after Stevens, called it one of the “most painful” interviews she has ever watched.
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“I’m not sure I would have done this if I’d known she was going to be on immediately before me,” Dingell said. “I have been worried about her all last week. She’s a human being. I’ve had multiple conversations with her. I’m far from being the only one that has. And I’m very concerned that this has all become a distraction.”
Dingell claimed Stevens had told her she was not going to endorse Rogers.
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Democrats erupted after Stevens decided to endorse El-Sayed’s Republican rival in the Michigan Senate race, calling her a traitor and opportunist.
Far-left streamer Hasan Piker attacked her motives in a post to X, claiming she was “weirdly obsessed with Israel.”