Haley Stevens kicked out of Michigan Democratic Party after Mike Rogers endorsement

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Haley Stevens' decision to abandon Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed and back Republican rival Mike Rogers has triggered a political backlash, costing her standing within the Michigan Democratic Party.

Chair Curtis Hertel, on Sunday, November 1, made it crystal clear that Stevens, who flipped a previously Republican-held congressional district for the Party in 2018, is no longer part of the party.

Hertel announced the decision barely an hour after Stevens released a video endorsing Rogers. The move came after days of public tension with El-Sayed, who defeated her in the August Democratic primary.

Their feud largely revolved around El-Sayed's position on Israel, an issue that had already made the primary particularly bitter and divisive.

Michigan Democratic Party chair accuses Haley Stevens of abandoning her 'values'

While endorsing Rogers, Stevens insisted that she was “still a very proud Democrat,” but Hertel doesn’t think so, as he accused her of abandoning “all your values.”

“Congresswoman Stevens is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future,” Hertel announced on X (formerly Twitter).

Sources tell The Detroit News that Stevens no longer has access to Michigan Democrats' voter database, and that her photo has been removed from the party's website.

Raging at Stevens’ decision, Hertel separately told reporters that “either Haley Stevens is not who she said she would be, or there's something very wrong with her right now."

“This is not like this is not some kind of, like, drama club or a glee club! This is the Democratic Party. We’re a force for good in the world. If you are a member of it, you believe that if Democrats get elected, it will make people’s lives better,” Hertel stated.

“The fact that she doesn’t understand that part of it—that— not invited! Why would that matter in any way, shape, or form about how she treats the constituents and the people? She said that she was going to be there,” he continued.

More than half of Haley Stevens' staff quit after she endorsed Mike Rogers

More than half of Stevens’ staff has resigned in direct protest of her endorsement for El-Sayed’s Republican rival.

One person, speaking on condition of anonymity, described it to the Detroit Free Press as a "mass resignation." The exact number of congressional aides to Stevens who resigned was not clear.

An automated email reply from Stevens’s former communications director also stated, “Hello, as of November 1st, I am no longer with the Office of Congresswoman Haley Stevens.”

A statement, first shared by CNN, from Stevens’s longtime chief of staff Justin German, said as of Sunday morning, “Many members of our team have resigned, including myself.”

“We are shocked and heartbroken by Congresswoman Stevens’s decision to support Mike Rogers,” German wrote.

German, who worked with Stevens for eight years, encouraged “everyone to exercise their civic duty, vote for [Michigan Democratic Senate candidate] Abdul [El-Sayed] and Democrats up and down the ballot, and stand up for the America we all believe in.”

When asked about her staff’s ‘mass resignation’, Stevens insisted that she is under “transition.”

“I’m running down my office. It’s all been packed up,” she told CNN.

“These are great individuals who, you know, I care a lot about. And, you know, certainly, you know, they’re free to share their views on this. I am not trying to upset anyone. I’m just being honest with my constituents and what I’m hearing from people,” she added.