“YOU’RE A TRAITOR!” Haley Stevens Heckled by Angry Crowd After Endorsing GOP’s Mike Rogers

The problem was we have been comfortable in your neighbor's problems in the city. And what we're trying to do is change that dynamic. What about the attacks on DEI? There's no attacks on DEI. What about the attacks on voting rights that your president endorsed you? That's my question for Haley Stevens. How are you supporting a candidate that stands so firmly with some of the policies that you stood so firmly against? Look, nothing is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Can you just very quickly, when did you guys, did you have any conversations prior? Greetings to the press corps. My name is Haley Stevens. I'm a proud Democrat and I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate. I am one vote in this state. Michigan is a swing state and I have a divided household as some of you have heard up until last night. But even my own mother cast her vote for Mike Rogers as my own father cast his vote for Abdul. This is a very close election. We all know that. But 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. And at some point, you've got to look at who's standing for country. There's always a lot of elections taking place in America, and this is one. I'm going to cast my ballot. I still haven't done that. And 90% of the votes I'm going to cast are going to be for Democrats. My vote for Senate, I am just one vote, as is every Michigander. My vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers. And I will tell you why. Because we have to stand with country. We can't stand with hate. We can't stand with Hassan Piker. A friend of mine was talking about how education is on the ballot. And it's very true. You know, there's a lot of young people looking at this election. You know, I was a young person once, and we've got to make a choice about who is standing with them. I think that Chuck Schumer is going to become the majority leader, you know, and I think that there are incredible Democrats and incredible activity taking place across this country. I stood with my party, and I was booed off the stage, and, you know, it was violently shouted down. You know, I was up there with other Democrats. Those people who are on that stage with me, they're going to make their choice. The ballot box is still very personal and private. And today, in a moment of faith, tied to my faith and to this great city. By the way, I'm standing here with a guy named Mike Rogers. And there's another guy named Mike who ran the city of Detroit for 12 years. And a lot of Detroiters voted for him. And, you know, he kind of looks like this guy. And you know what happened with that, Mike? You know, he stepped out of his party. He put up his hand for a brief while. He was running for governor. You know, I don't know everything that's going to happen. You know, and all I can do. Is lead with love and integrity. This was a personal and private decision. I woke up this morning and I decided to go to church. And I'm here with the person who I am voting for for United States Senate. And that is Mike Rogers. Let me just say I'm honored to have Haley Stevens support today. I'm honored to have earned that vote. You know, when I got the call this morning, obviously it's probably not the day we anticipated going forward today, but when we decided this would be good to worship together today. I'll just give you a little bit of flavor about this. We talked about America, what was better for Americans, what was better for the future of our state by bringing people together. You know, Martin Luther King said, you cannot solve darkness with darkness. You have to solve it with light. You can't solve hate with hate. You have to solve it with love. I talked to Haley about that love letter to Michigan that she wrote that I thought was very, very good. And candidly, I'm glad I'm not running against Haley Stevens today. But what we decided is sometimes the hate grows so loud that it jeopardizes some of our citizens in this state. When young Jewish women have to hide their Star of Davids to walk across University of Michigan campus, we have gone too far. When young men have to wear ball caps over their yarmulkes because they are getting harassed for being Jewish, we have gone too far. This is more a statement about standing together against hate and the future of this state and this country than it is anything else. And I just want you to know, she reminded me at the end of the call, remember, I'm still a Democrat. And there's a, you know, a big group of Democrats for Rogers, a lot of them are in my congressional district. There are a lot of people across this beautiful state. And of course, you know, Abdul has been running his campaign. He's been working really hard. I don't want to undermine that. I just want to be honest about where I am. And where my heart is at this time. Do you have any... We'll take a couple questions, but we'll do it in an organized way. We'll do it in an organized way, please. Can we get outlet and name when we call on people? We'll start down here. Can we get name and outlet? Brian Todd from CNN. Are you concerned with the harm this could do to the Democratic Party? Look, the Democratic Party is going to have another big election coming up. I'm not trying to harm anyone. I've worked really hard for Democrats. I'm not. Turning my back on Democrats. It is this one vote, and I will tell you why. Because when you see hate, when you see standing with Hassan Piker and repeated hate, it's not acceptable. That's it. It's my personal and private decision. I still love the party. I've done a ton for the party. I've voted with the party over and over and over again. I'm going to continue to do that as I fill out my term. Everyone should be fired up for Democrats. You know, we're just here in Michigan. Right. I know that this looks like it's a big national election. It's a Michigan election. It's a Michigan moment. And everyone is entitled to their opinion. And I respect it. I respect how people are going to cast their vote. You know, I'm doing so with love and faith to community and to integrity. I am certainly not trying to hurt anyone. I know these parties are big and powerful forces. And, you know, I respect that, you know, I've been a Democrat for a long time, but Abdul was very clear. He said, don't come. I endorsed him. I meant it when I endorsed him. I gave him a big hug. I stood there. I was just having a good time. I love volunteering on campaigns. And when it really comes down to it, this is how I'm casting my ballot. It's going to be a close election and everyone can take a look at the facts. Yeah, and I'm sorry people are upset, and I understand that. I did endorse the Democratic nominee, and he chose to close this campaign by saying I wasn't welcome. I've never been invited to a campaign event. That's fine. You know, he's busy. He's run all around. I've had primaries before myself. It's not about that. It's this is about leadership and integrity. This is about looking in the mirror about how real Democrats for Rogers are constituents of mine that are on, you know, out there saying putting themselves out there publicly and others who aren't. And that's fine. You know, there's there's going to be people who agree with me, people who disagree with me. All the love to them and all the excitement for what is down the road. Thank you so much. Thank you. Michael Schnell with MS Now. Two questions. First off, what is your message to Democrats who say that this endorsement and your support of Mike Rogers could be the reason why Democrats lose this Senate seat and then lose control of their opportunity to take control of the Senate? And then second off, Abdul El-Sayed has been the target of a number of Islamophobic attacks. How do you square you standing here with Mike Rogers to that sentiment? Yeah, well, look, I'll say this, that I deeply respect we're party leaders I have worked for, who I admire, who I want to see continue to be successful, I respect where they stand. I'm just very politely, as a Michigander, sharing where I stand. I am aware that my name is not on the ballot. And there's going to be a vote that gets cast, it's going to get tallied up, and that's what we're going to have to look at. Look at the Michiganders. Look at the actual people, because that is really what's on the line here. The people, I'm not trying to sway any election. I'm sure, you know, all you are here. It's too late for him to put up another TV ad. The social media moves by the minute. But this is about Michigan and just one vote that I am taking, not trying to, you know, overly sway anything, just being honest and where I woke up this morning feeling in my heart Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm just going to weigh in on this. I'm just going to weigh in on this for a second. I'm honored to have Haley Stevens' vote, which is what she gave me this morning, or promised to give me this morning. But Rogers for Democrats, or Democrats for Rogers, excuse me, let me get that part right, is real. And it's growing. And there is a chorus of Democrats around this state saying that Abdul is too extreme. I mean, it's pretty angry and hateful not to be able to condemn an ad that is maybe the most racist ad I have seen in my time in politics, blaming a certain group of people for all of your problems. That sounds like 1933. It doesn't sound like 1926. And it has consequences for those communities. They're, I, we, Jewish Democrats are calling me afraid for their children to stay in the state of Michigan. We can't have it. So I am really proud to have her vote. But it is bigger than that as well. There are lots of Democrats who are joining us. And all we can do is speak for ourselves. You know, you mentioned Islamophobia. Abdul and his incredible family, they are very proud Muslim Americans. And Muslim Americans are going to cast their vote as well. Right. And I don't want to speak for anyone. All I can do is speak for myself. I'm sure that Mike is talking with and working with, you know, some of the Muslim American community. That is one of our pride and joys here in Michigan. This is not anti-Muslim at all. It's just simply. Where I am in this moment, I'm at a church, I'm with my faith, I'm being honest with the public, and you know, I'm excited to see what Michigan does. Did you have any last question? Did you have any, last question, last question, last question, last question. Talk about how frustrated they are with the Republican Party. I asked you about voting rights yesterday. How do you square all the things that some of your biggest advocates said were too much for them to support? Well, I'm going to speak for myself for a minute because I'm going to continue to work with the incredible Keith Williams, whose message is faith, family, and freedom, and that is something that we heard here in this church. I'm going to return to private citizen life and be in community, be with friendship. We had a great sermon on friendship here today. Keith Williams is a mentor of mine, and I will continue to be working alongside him. Wendell Anthony is a great faith leader. He is a great man. I have disappointed him on a couple of things in the past. If I've disappointed him now, I will hear from him, and I will listen, and I will bring him in the fold. The tent that I'm in, just me and my circle is that even when we disagree, we can still be friends. And so that's where I look at these things. You know, Keith has done a lot of great work. I am going to continue to support him. And I know that one of the pieces of legislation that I've worked on with black owned businesses, that's something I want to see taken up in the new Senate. We don't know what the Senate is going to look like. I'm not trying to be the This is a soothsayer on it. I'm not trying to be the soothsayer on anything other than the integrity of being honest with people. When someone says to you, you are not welcome in my campaign, you take the message. And that's what Abdul said. And I just want to say this. This is courage in politics in America today. When you see a party and at least a sliver of the party veering off into the virile hate that they have been spewing. Toward a group of people, it gets dangerous. It takes courage for someone to stand up and say, can't do that, not going to do that. We're going to change that direction. We've been working with black pastors on the other side of that, lots of them, about two dozen. We've had great conversations about all the issues you just talked about and how we can work together to move forward on all of that. There are more productive conversations happening in the city of Detroit today than I've ever seen. Matter of fact, I had a pastor tell me he hadn't seen a Republican in a pew there in over 50 years. But the problem was, we have been comfortable in your neighbor's problems in the city. And what we're trying to do is change that dynamic. What about the attacks on DEI? There's no attacks on DEI. What about the attacks on voting rights that your president endorsed you? That's my question for Haley Stevens. How are you supporting a candidate that stands so firmly with some of the policies that you stand so firmly against? Look, nothing is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Can you just say one thing? When did you guys, did you have any conversations prior to this meeting?