Democrat Haley Stevens endorses GOP's Mike Rogers in Michigan Senate race, 2 days before election

Candidates are making their final pitch ahead of the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday. Both major parties are battling for control over Congress. But polls suggest Democrats are poised to make gains in the House and Senate, which could shift the balance of power in their favor and potentially put the U.S. president's agenda at risk. Donald Trump is holding rallies later today in both Iowa and Kansas, where Republicans are fighting to save those crucial seats. Journalist Nick Harper is following all the latest from Washington. Natasha, hundreds of lawmakers right across the country out on the campaign trail, but really all eyes are on the president because, as you said, it's crucial what happens in these midterm elections to what he's able to do over the last two years of his presidency. He, this Sunday, is going to two reliably red Republican states, Iowa and Kansas. The reason being is the Senate seats in both of those states has suddenly got much, much tighter, Later, and Democrats feel that they are within inching difference of being able to grab those Senate seats off Republicans. Now, it's worth bearing in mind that these are two states that Donald Trump carried by double digits in the last presidential election. Iowa, he took by 13 points. Kansas by 16 points. These should not be in play. But they are, and I think it's very telling that this time around, Democrats feel that they will be able to flip seats that have been reliably red for many, many years. And part of that is because of the dissatisfaction that many voters feel with Donald Trump's job performance over the last couple of years. Nick, over the course of our coverage, we've been focusing in on a number of key states. So let's talk about Michigan. There's so much going on there, not to mention least of which its close economic and cultural connections to Canada. But it's this one Democratic candidate that's been grabbing so many headlines. Let's talk about him. That's right, Abdel El-Sayed, if he wins, he would become the first Muslim in the Senate. He is aiming for a Democratic seat that is already a Democratic seat. He's hoping to maintain it. However, there has become rather contentious in-party fighting, including in the last few days. The person that he beat in the primaries, Haley Stevens, has begun campaigning with his Republican opponent, both of them. Appearing at a church service this Sunday, suggesting that there is disunity amongst the Republican ranks. And also in Michigan, we have seen this division being sown by the president himself, who has accused El-Sayed of being a jihadist, with links to the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood. He has tried to dismiss those, but they have stick and it's a problem because in the state there are divisions between Arabs and black voters and El-Sayed as an Arab is finding it very difficult to win over black support. That's where Mike Rogers is hoping to pick up some of his votes and be able to flip this to the Republicans. It will be a very tight one and very closely watched when we get to Tuesday night. Natasha. Journalist Nick Harper in Washington. Now, Nick just outlined some of the key issues in Michigan, so let's get deeper into that state with Matt Grossman. He's the director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and professor of political science at Michigan State University. Professor, thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with you. So just within the past few moments, more news. We've got Haley Stevens, the rival in the primary against Al-Sayed. Officially endorsing the Republican candidate. I mean, what's going on here? Why is this so contentious? Yeah, this is a crazy last minute addition to a long struggle that has gone on within the Democratic Party, both during and after that contentious primary. So the conflict isn't new. The issues aren't new. But taking that all the way to endorsing the Republican opponent on the weekend before the election is quite an additional surprise. Well, clearly... She must have calculated this, that it was worth the risk potentially to the Democrats and or maybe her own personal vision of what the state needs to be. But walk me through this. Why would she do something like this? Why not just stay quiet? Well, the latest scuffle starts with her agreeing to appear at a different church event this Sunday with the Democrats, but then adding some caveats about what she thought Abdul El-Sayed still needed to do. He reacted negatively to that with a press release and apparently that stimulated Mike Rogers to reach out to see if she would appear with him. So it's trending in this direction, but I think it's still a surprise to almost everyone that it went this far. Let's talk about Al-Sayed. He's controversial. I mean, the Democrats are doing quite well nationally and in Michigan, but he's lagging and struggling in some situations, clearly. Talk to us a bit more about this candidate. Right. He has several traditional detriments for general election candidates. He's never held elected office. He is not in the moderate wing of his party, and he would be the first Muslim senator. So this was always thought to be more of a difficult race from a candidate perspective. But in an election where the Democrats are competitive in places like Mississippi and South Carolina and, you know, potentially winning states like Texas and Kansas and Iowa, you would think that Michigan would have been firmly in the Democratic column by now. It is in the governor's race, but there's still quite a few people who... NBC News. Professor Grossman, lay it out for me. Is your sense that this is simply a matter of hesitancy to elect a Muslim? Is there an anti-Muslim sentiment here, or are there legitimate concerns about him? Well, about 38% of Michigan voters in our poll actually say explicitly that they're less likely to support a Muslim candidate, and so that is not something you hear voters say about, we ask them about women candidates and black candidates, so that's something that they still reserve for Muslim candidates, but they also, he's also not doing as well among independent and moderate voters, and like I said, there is traditionally a penalty extreme ideological candidates. And so he is kind of facing the fusion of that because Mike Rogers has tried to combine his image of not being a moderate with his Muslim identity, talking about ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which there really don't seem to be any. But there are both of those individual concerns among some voters. Okay, let's continue to talk about Mike Rogers being the Republican candidate But at a time when the president, the leader of the Republican Party, is deeply unpopular and people in Michigan struggling with all sorts of things, the cost of fuel, general cost of living, how is he circling that square? It's been very hard because he needed Trump's voters. He couldn't have a public feud with Trump. So Trump did come to Michigan, but Trump is very unpopular. About 55% of voters say they're less likely to support a candidate with Trump's endorsement. We ask people to rate Trump on a scale of excellent, good, fair, or poor, and more than half say poor. So his image is really negative in the state, and that's hurting Rogers. Rogers has tried to distinguish himself a little bit, especially especially on the Canadian tariffs and fights with Canada over the Gordie Howe Bridge. He also even had a face-to-camera ad in which he was drinking Labatt and talking about the relationship with Canada. So that is actually one place that he's tried to say he's not Trump. How much of the ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States, is that going Is that going to be a factor for the voters? It does seem that it has been a factor in Michigan and in Maine and in places where there are those close familial and trade and economic ties. And it is a change in Michigan because protectionism has, in general, been popular in Michigan historically. But this is a case where, you know, no one is really supporting these tariffs. You don't have the auto industry or the auto unions or anyone speaking on their behalf. Instead, they're speaking quite negatively. So voters are hearing that, and that might make a difference to some, but probably more as part of a general concern about the state of the economy and prices. Matt Grossman, thank you so much for your time. Thank you.