Democrat Haley Stevens supports Republican Mike Rogers and shakes up the Senate race in Michigan

Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, defeated by about one point in the party's Michigan primary, has decided to support Republican Mike Rogers in the Senate race against Abdul El-Sayed. The gesture, made just hours before the vote, provoked an immediate reaction from Democratic leaders and reignited the debate about the balance of forces in the American Congress.

According to the report aired by Fox Business, Stevens went to church with Rogers and said that it is not possible to side with hate, in reference to El-Sayed (the transcript mentions Hasan Piker's name in context). Rogers, according to the channel, has placed the fight against anti-Semitism at the center of his campaign, given the feeling of insecurity among young American Jews.

Reaction from Democrats

El-Sayed responded by saying that at the end of the day, he doesn't think about Stevens and that his target is the administration and the White House. The Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, classified the deputy's attitude as a despicable betrayal. House Caucus Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke of an ongoing fight to put the American people first and reduce the high cost of living. According to the report, Nancy Pelosi wrote that El-Sayed should win in Michigan.

What the numbers say

Guest on the show, Mark Bednar, former communications director for then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, called the support a shock and recalled that Stevens received 726,000 votes in the primary and lost by one point. For him, she is still a relevant force in the state. Bednar said about a quarter of Michigan's registered voters have already voted and that the state has a history of high turnout.

In Bednar's estimation, if a sizable portion of Stevens voters conclude that El-Sayed's plans would be bad for Michigan, Rogers has an opportunity to cross the finish line. The analyst also criticized the Democrat's temperament, saying that he reacts with irritation when asked about proposals such as cutting police funding.

Kansas and the national picture

The program also covered Kansas, where weekend polls showed movement against Republican Roger Marshall. Bednar recalled that Marshall already faced a difficult primary in 2020 and was helped by President Donald Trump to win by just a few percentage points. According to him, Republicans need to convince their voters to turn out, as the state has not elected a Democratic senator since the 1930s.

Bednar also cited races such as that of Republican Representative Susan Collins, in Maine, and that of Republican candidates for the House as bellwethers for the night. For him, Republican victories in these cases would be a sign that the party's electorate is mobilized. He also assessed that the final stretch is saturated with advertisements and that the best use of the money would be in national advertising.

For investors, the central point is that control of the Senate and the Chamber, in dispute on Tuesday, defines the pace of issues such as taxes, public spending and the cost of living, with a potential impact on interest rates, the dollar and the stock market. The transcript, however, does not contain market projections, and the result of the polls is still uncertain.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.