El-Sayed Raises Record $2.4 Million in a Day After Haley Stevens Backs Republican Mike Rogers

Haley Stevens‘ last-minute switch to Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race was followed by the biggest fundraising day of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign: $2.4 million on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, his campaign said, as reported by The Guardian and Reuters. Voters decide the open seat on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

What Stevens did on Sunday

Stevens, who has represented Michigan’s 11th Congressional District in suburban Oakland County since 2019, had endorsed El-Sayed after losing the August primary to him. On Sunday morning she instead attended a service at Perfecting Church in Detroit alongside Rogers and then announced her support for the former seven-term Republican congressman, NPR reported. A planned Democratic unity appearance with El-Sayed and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina did not include her.

“Abdul made very clear that I was not welcome in his campaign, that he didn’t need me there, that he didn’t want me there,” Stevens told reporters, according to NPR. She also said: “I’m not turning my back on Democrats. It is one vote. When you see repeated hate, it’s not acceptable. I still love the party.”

Stevens has pointed to an outside group’s advertisement that she said blamed Israel for high grocery prices. “That ad was very painful,” she told CNN on Sunday night, as quoted by Reuters. El-Sayed rejected her demand that he condemn the ad and said she was creating a distraction by reopening a primary she had lost, Reuters reported. Our earlier report covers the resignations in Stevens’ congressional office that followed the endorsement.

Democratic reaction and El-Sayed’s response

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the move a “despicable betrayal,” NPR reported. Several colleagues said Stevens had assured them through Saturday night that she would keep backing El-Sayed. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan told CNN she was “very shocked” and said Stevens “has had some hurt feelings,” according to The Guardian, while adding that “the hate and the anger in this country right now is very scary and it’s coming from all sides.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the endorsement “horrific,” The Guardian reported.

El-Sayed played down the switch. “I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he told reporters, according to the Christian Science Monitor. His campaign said the $2.4 million came from more than 65,000 donors giving an average of $36.74, per Reuters, and that more than 26,000 of them gave for the first time.

Republicans welcomed the headlines as a sign the battleground seat could flip, The Hill reported. Rogers, of White Lake Township, was the Republican nominee for Senate in 2024 and ran unopposed in this year’s GOP primary.

By the numbers: the primary and the polls

The August 4 Democratic primary was decided by a sliver. According to certified Michigan Department of State results as compiled by The New York Times, El-Sayed won 744,952 votes (48.45%) to Stevens’ 731,160 (47.55%), with state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who had withdrawn, at 61,516 (4.00%). By TBR’s calculation, the 13,792-vote gap equals 0.9 percentage points of about 1.54 million ballots cast, or fewer than one vote in 100.

General-election polling has moved the other way from that knife-edge margin. All 10 surveys of likely voters in the 270toWin poll list taken between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1 show El-Sayed ahead. His lead ranged from 1 point (InsiderAdvantage, 1,200 likely voters, margin of error ±2.8) to 11 points (Siena College, 1,011 likely voters, ±3.6). The site’s eight-poll average puts El-Sayed at 50.9% and Rogers at 44.6%, a 6.3-point edge. Three polls finishing Nov. 1 gave El-Sayed leads of 3, 4 and 11 points, though most interviews predate the endorsement or overlap with it.

Michigan pollster Richard Czuba of the Glengariff Group told The Hill that views of President Trump are a stronger divide than the endorsement. “If you disapprove of Donald Trump, 83 percent of those voters are going to Abdul. If you approve of Trump, 92 percent of those voters are going to Rogers,” he said. “That’s the dividing line. It’s not Haley Stevens.”

Why the Michigan seat matters on Election Day

The seat is open because Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. Republicans hold the U.S. Senate 53-47, and Democrats view keeping Michigan as essential to any path to a majority, according to Reuters and NPR. Our midterm elections tracker follows the other battleground races, and our October ratings of Senate and House races lay out the wider map.

Stevens’ current House term runs into early January 2027. Whether her endorsement shifts any votes will be measurable only when Michigan’s results come in after polls close Tuesday night.

Sources

• NPR: Haley Stevens endorses GOP candidate in Michigan Senate race, spurning Abdul El-Sayed
• Reuters (via Investing.com): Republicans, Democrats make midterm closing arguments as Michigan rift roils Senate race
• The Guardian: El-Sayed campaign reports record fundraising day (live coverage, Nov. 2)
• 270toWin: 2026 Michigan Senate polls
• The New York Times: Michigan U.S. Senate primary results (certified)

Additional sources

• The Hill: Democrats castigate Haley Stevens over Mike Rogers endorsement
• Christian Science Monitor: On election eve, Michigan puts Democratic divide back in the spotlight
• AP: Turmoil in Michigan’s Senate race as Stevens endorses Rogers
• Office of Rep. Haley Stevens, U.S. House of Representatives
• Michigan Department of State: Elections