El-Sayed, Michigan Democrats push to galvanize voters after stunning Senate race defection

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and fellow Michigan Democrats scrambled Monday to refocus attention on turning out Election Day voters after his former primary rival stunned the party by endorsing the Republican candidate in one of the country’s most closely watched races.

The final push before Tuesday's midterms followed a dramatic Sunday, when Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers after appearing alongside him at church. It prompted her expulsion from the state Democratic Party and drew fierce condemnation from party leaders and longtime allies.

El-Sayed made no mention of the controversy at an event Monday morning at Eastern Michigan University, instead emphasizing that his campaign was about voters, not himself. Asked afterward what he would tell supporters nervous about the impact of Stevens’ endorsement on the race, El-Sayed had a simple message: “Go vote.”

“There’s only one thing we can do to control the outcome,” he added. He was joined at Monday's rally by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and his grandparents, who greeted the crowd.

With over 2.3 million Michigan voters having already cast their ballots as of Monday, the question is whether the extraordinary political drama will matter to those who have yet to vote. Nearly 4.5 million people voted in the 2022 midterms. The state’s regular early in-person voting period ended Sunday, with polls reopening statewide Tuesday.

“Well, around half of people have already voted,” said Lori Goldman, a longtime Democratic organizer in Oakland County, a party stronghold near Detroit. “But for the rest, it could matter a hell of a lot.”

On Monday, Associated Press reporters spoke to voters throughout Stevens' congressional district to hear their reactions. Stevens predominately represents Oakland County, home to West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak and a large Jewish population.

Derryl Reed, who lives in Stevens’ district and voted for her in the primary, even attending her election watch party, said he was disappointed.

“I see it mobilizing people to support Abdul more because they’re so pissed off,” said Reed. “She’s gone back on her word.”

Cassaundra Sims, a 62-year-old resident of West Bloomfield who voted for Stevens in the past, described her reaction to the Rogers endorsement as “Shocking, surprising and, frankly, disappointing.”

“For her to be there supporting him, she has clearly shown us that she is not for us and that she is not somebody that we can trust,” Sims, who is Black, said of Stevens’ past support from the Black community.

Brian Butler of Bloomfield Hills, who has already voted but declined to say for whom, said he believed “Haley did the right thing.”

“I think the Jewish people have been terribly treated and she wasn't going to put up with it,” he said.

For Rogers and Republicans, the endorsement represented a remarkable political coup. Rogers personally reached out to Stevens over the weekend, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. Even Rogers’ own staff was unaware of the planned joint appearance at Perfecting Church until Sunday morning and learned of Stevens’ endorsement only when it was posted online, the person said. The campaign was touting the endorsement to voters Monday.

Rogers appeared at a final rally Monday night in Oakland County, joined by Republicans up and down the ticket. Stevens — who did not attend the event — was given a long ovation as attendees chanted “Haley! Haley! Haley!”

Rogers said at the rally that Stevens only told him that she was endorsing him after the church service.

“You know courage when you see it," Rogers said of Stevens. He added about the election, “We’re going to surprise some people I think.”

For Democrats, the defection exposed lingering divisions over El-Sayed, who narrowly defeated Stevens in a bruising primary marked by disagreements over Israel and the war in Gaza. Party leaders had spent the final weeks of the campaign trying to shore up support for El-Sayed, particularly among Jewish and Black voters who had strongly backed Stevens.

Those leaders rebuked Stevens and said it would only energize their base. El-Sayed reported raising $2.4 million on Sunday, his largest fundraising day of the campaign, while the state party said it saw a surge of people volunteering to knock on doors.

“I don’t think this changes the election results other than it galvanizes Democrats,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel.

Michigan Democrats for months were divided on which candidate to support in the August primary, when El-Sayed defeated Stevens by around 14,000 votes. But in the weeks since, many have rallied around El-Sayed as the party’s nominee.

Goldman, who supported Stevens in her first congressional campaign and has known her for a decade, said she was shocked by the reversal.

“I think she’s thrown away a career that had import,” Goldman said. “I’m stunned. And I feel a little heartbroken for her.”

Debbie Rosenman, who leads two Democratic organizations in southeast Michigan, an area Stevens has partially represented in Congress for years, said the endorsement had left local Democrats feeling betrayed.

“What I am hearing is fury,” Rosenman said. “They are just infuriated with her and feel betrayed by her.”

Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist who supported Stevens and has been so critical of El-Sayed that he plans to leave the Senate race blank, said the congresswoman’s endorsement had nothing to do with their policy differences: “If it did, she would have done it a month ago.”

“This is colossally stupid. But it has zero to do with any substance. It has to do with personal animosity between these two,” Hemond said.

Soon after her primary loss, Stevens endorsed El-Sayed, saying she would do “whatever he wants me to do” on the campaign trail. But she remained absent from the campaign trail for months, something that became increasingly noticeable as Jewish leaders criticized El-Sayed.

El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of Israel, and has been criticized for a statement in which he said “hurt people hurt people" after a synagogue attack and for appearing with controversial streamer Hasan Piker on the campaign trail.

Those controversies largely preceded Stevens’ endorsement of El-Sayed. He has since apologized for his comments following the synagogue attack and has not appeared with Piker again. But Stevens and some Jewish leaders have maintained that he has not done enough to address their concerns. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, said last week that he would vote for Rogers.

The tensions came to a head over a planned Sunday unity event featuring Stevens and El-Sayed. After their public sparring over Israel and an outside group’s campaign advertisement threatened to overshadow the gathering, Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior Michigan Democratic figure close to Stevens, said she uninvited the congresswoman because the dispute had become “distracting.”

Dingell and other Democrats said Stevens had repeatedly reassured them that the dispute would not cause her to withdraw her support for El-Sayed.

Few anticipated what would happen Sunday morning, when Stevens sat beside Rogers in church and announced her endorsement of the Republican shortly afterward.

“This is about Abdul getting angrier and angrier and saying, ‘I don’t want these people in my campaign,’” Stevens said later in a CNN interview. “This is a weight off my shoulders."

Dingell, visibly shaken during a CNN interview afterward, called Stevens’ remarks “one of the most painful interviews I have watched” and said she had been worried about the congresswoman all week.

Associated Press journalist Mike Householder contributed to this report from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Cappelletti reported from Washington.

People arrive before Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks during an campaign event Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Rochester Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks during a campaign event, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2016, in Sterling Heights, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, right, and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., attend a service at Perfecting Church, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

Supporters rally before Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed greets supporters during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduces Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The skies were clearing, but the risk of flooding remained over parts of the U.S. Southwest after powerful downpours sent massive amounts of water surging over the usually dry landscape, forcing hundreds to evacuate and keeping swift-water rescue teams busy.

Officials said cleanup and repair efforts could take weeks. One person died in the floodwaters and police suspect a second death was weather-related.

The National Weather Service said Monday that isolated cloudbursts were still possible across the Four Corners region — where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet — as the phenomenon stoked by warming Pacific waters known as El Niño disrupts weather patterns.

Damage was widespread in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, a town of about 2,000. Officials feared the San Juan River that flows through it would top a level that nearly wiped out the town in 1911. The river reached 16.81 feet (5.1 meters) Sunday — a foot lower than the historic level — flooding downtown streets before receding Monday, the weather service said.

An entire home was lifted from its foundation and floated down the river before crashing into a pedestrian bridge. A section of a road bridge west of town crumbled under raging waters, said Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Vicki Shaffer.

Dozens of people were rescued across the region, including some by helicopter. Shaffer said first responders were searching for people who may be stranded.

“That will continue, just like last week, until we’re sure that everybody who was trapped by the floodwaters has been rescued,” she said.

The Colorado Department of Transportation reopened several closed bridges and roadways late Monday. Shaffer said evacuation orders remain in place, though she wasn't sure how many people were affected.

Pagosa Springs had just lifted an evacuation order from a previous storm, only to reimpose it Saturday.

More than 20 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on the Four Corners states and Nevada in the past two weeks, according to calculations by former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue.

With Election Day coming, officials in Colorado and Utah arranged alternative voting plans for evacuated or stranded residents.

Utah said Monday that residents of hard-hit San Juan County will be allowed to vote electronically because some of them may not be able to reach polling places.

Evacuations were ordered along the San Juan River in New Mexico, which officials warned was still rising and could crest Tuesday through Wednesday. The village of Chama, New Mexico, was also evacuated and cut off by road closures.

Residents had to leave their homes along the Animas River in southwestern Colorado, where Durango police Chief Brice Current said authorities were checking Monday on those who rode out the flooding at home.

"There's still a lot of people stranded,” Current said.

Willow Bradner and her family have been staying in a hotel since their Durango home flooded this weekend.

“We went from ‘we’re going to be safe’ to ‘pack a go-bag’ in 45 minutes,” she recalled. Her basement is now filled with water, with the house surrounded by more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of mud.

On Monday, Greg Ewing was among some 200 community members who used shovels and skid steers to remove the mud in Bradner's neighborhood. “That’s the cool thing about Durango. It’s a really strong community. Everyone comes together,” Ewing said.

Record rainfall was reported across Arizona, including 7.3 inches (18.5 centimeters) over two days at Workman Creek, a wilderness area near Phoenix.

Flagstaff totaled 5.15 inches (13 centimeters) over two days, contributing to its wettest Nov. 1 ever recorded. The city typically has fewer than a handful of days per year of rain exceeding 1 inch (2.5 centimeters), said meteorologist Jennifer Tate with the NWS Weather Prediction Center.

“What really stood out to me was that this wasn’t localized. It was a very broad system that brought a lot of rain to a lot of places,” Tate said.

A man was seen falling into floodwaters rushing into a drainage tunnel in Flagstaff, where rain fell nearly nonstop Sunday. Police said the body of Williams Singavarapu, 73, of New York, was discovered Monday about 15 blocks from where he disappeared.

A second man was found dead Monday in a drainage area, Flagstaff police said, adding it appeared to be weather-related, pending an official determination on the cause of death.

In Sedona, floodwaters trapped several people in their homes, and heavy rain washed out part of a highway.

Nearby in Camp Verde, Doug Michaels was cooking dinner at an RV park when he saw people evacuating as water rose. He was able to get himself, his wife, cat and valuables to safety and raise his camper higher off the ground. But he said others fared much worse.

“It's devastating,” he said. “People lost their homes. The one lady doesn't even know where her camper is. It went down the river.”

Swift-water rescues also were conducted in Tucson, where weather service meteorologist Aaron Hardin said “we are getting two or three months of rain in a span of a couple of days.”

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs issued a statewide emergency declaration on Monday after recently issuing an emergency for Navajo and Coconino counties. The governors of New Mexico and Colorado asked President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster to receive federal funding assistance.

Ryan Benally spent the weekend building dirt berms to divert floodwaters from his parents’ home on the Navajo Nation near Montezuma Creek, Utah. So far, the barriers have held, though parts of their small cattle ranch were under water.

Benally, an assistant professor at Utah State University, has been coordinating deliveries of bottled water, waterproof boots, toiletries and other supplies to shelters. Families who stayed at home were increasingly difficult to reach, he said, because access routes for some remote residents washed out.

Benally said his parents, both in their 60s, have lived in the area all their lives and have never seen flooding this severe.

“These storms have been one after another after another,” Benally said. “It’s compounding in ways people out here just weren’t prepared for.”

AP journalists Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Savannah Peters in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Gregory Bull in Durango, Colorado; Ross D. Franklin in Camp Verde, Arizona; and Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed.

La Plata County Sheriff's Office deputy Brayton Thurber carries an infant from a trailer at Junction Creek Mobile Home Park, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Durango, Colo., while evacuating the park as Junction Creek floods out of its banks. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP)

Residents at a local RV park survey the damage of their mobile home after flooding of the Verde River in Camp Verde, Ariz., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

A vehicle is submerged on the Piedras River after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Arboles, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Finnley Ewing uses a shovel to dig mud from a street in his neighborhood after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Heavy rain and flooding inundated fields in Homelake, Colo., an unincorporated community near Monta Vista, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

Finnley Ewing uses a shovel to dig mud from a street in his neighborhood after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Neighbors clear mud and debris from a street after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Allen Lynn surveys flooding on his property after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

After heavy rains flood waters flow through the Continental Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

From left, Mateo Heras, Fr. Matt Lowry and Luke Willson fill sandbags to help with flooding at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Flagstaff, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)

A pedestrian crosses a flooded road in Flagstaff, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)

A man uses a bottle to collect and dump rainwater from inside his car after getting stuck on a flooded street in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Mason Kumet/Arizona Luminaria via AP)

Members of the Tucson Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team rescue a woman from her car after it became stuck in a flooded wash in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Mason Kumet/Arizona Luminaria via AP)