Haley Stevens gave her first interview since endorsing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she felt like there was a “weight on my shoulders.”
During their 15-minute interview, Cooper repeatedly asked Stevens why she changed her mind after apparently telling her colleague, Rep. Debbie Dingell, in a phone conversation Saturday night that she was not going to support Rogers.
Stevens confirmed the conversation took place, but never gave Cooper a direct answer about what made him change his mind. She told him, “That’s exactly where I landed. I woke up this morning clear-eyed and fresh and, you know, focused on what was in my heart, and that’s it.”
When asked again what made her change her mind, Stevens responded: “I was there and, you know, alone with my thoughts. I was writing things down, and look, this level of anger and the things that we’re seeing – look, we all want the Democrats to win. I’m a really proud Democrat. And by the way, Abdul has all the other Democrats with him. He just doesn’t have me and a few other people who love this party.”
“Nothing has changed about me, Anderson,” said Stevens, who previously supported El-Sayed.
She cited El-Sayed’s alliance with a left-wing journalist and political commentator Hasan Piker and a controversial Rebellion PAC ad that linked the war in Gaza to rising costs in the country. It shows a couple in a grocery store buying food for their children, and the wife asks her husband to hand over the eggs, saying, “We have to save this $7 to kill Palestinians.” » El-Sayed said his campaign had nothing to do with the ad.
“That commercial was very painful,” Stevens said. “There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic candidate, and they’re just told, ‘Hey, this is a party you don’t belong to, or this is a campaign you don’t belong to.'”
Stevens told Cooper that she “absolutely” wants Democrats to take control of the Senate after Election Day and that it is essential that Democrats retain their Michigan seats to take control of the Senate.
Cooper pointed out that in August, Stevens posted on social media that Rogers would be “another endorsement of Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda. We cannot afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November.” He asked Stevens: “Why is this happening now…why can you afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November?”
Stevens responded: “Well, why is it acceptable for the Democratic Party and a leading candidate to inject…this type of anger and lack of kindness?”
Cooper asked if she was referring to being disinvited from a planned joint appearance with El-Sayed Sunday.
“Anderson, I was just trying to help this campaign and stand up for people who feel hurt,” Stevens responded.
Cooper interviewed Dingell immediately after Stevens, and Dingell described Stevens’ appearance as “one of the most painful interviews I’ve ever watched.”
“I’m very concerned that this whole thing has become a distraction,” Dingell said.
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