Democratic congresswoman breaks with the party and supports Republican in the Michigan Senate on the eve of the election

Democratic Representative Haley Stevens has announced that she will vote for Republican Mike Rogers for Senate in Michigan, breaking with her own party's candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, one day before the midterm elections. The decision was treated by the panel on the Fox Business program "Outnumbered" as one of the most explosive facts in the final stretch of the campaign.

According to the broadcast, Stevens stated: "My vote for the Senate will be with Mike Rogers", and justified that it is necessary to "stand on the side of the country" and not "on the side of hate". She cited far-left streamer Hasan Piker as saying she can't be with him. Fox Business presented the gesture as a reaction to what the congresswoman sees as the party's failure to confront anti-Semitism.

Internal dispute and party reaction

The reaction from Democrats was harsh. According to the hosts, leader Chuck Schumer called the gesture a despicable betrayal, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she betrayed Michigan. The chairman of the state Democratic Party stated that Stevens is not a current member of the party nor will he be in the future.

There was also controversy over how the events unfolded. Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, said she heard from Stevens at midnight that it was all rumors. About five hours later, according to the program's report, the decision became public. Commentator Marie Harf, a Democrat, said she doesn't care much about Stevens and that the party has a chance in other states.

Host Bill Hemmer noted that about 1.8 million people had already voted in Michigan and that it was unknown how much the controversy could influence the outcome. He cited research from The New York Times according to which voters who decided only in the last month favor Republicans by nine points. Marie Harf, in turn, said that, according to the same newspaper, Democrats lead in all key Senate states.

Anti-Semitism at the center of the debate

The panel linked Stevens' decision to the discussion of anti-Semitism. Host Lydia Hu cited FBI data from 2024 presented on the program: Jews make up about 2% of the American population, but are the target of 63% of religiously motivated hate crimes, the third highest level ever recorded. Kayleigh McEnany cited a 400% increase in threats against American Jews in the last year, a number cited by participants without detailing the source.

The program also showed a video from the University of Michigan in which a student attacks Jewish conservative influencer Lizzie Bennett and then makes a death threat. In the opinion of commentators, the episodes show what is at stake in the discussion about extremism and freedom of expression on campuses.

Hemmer recalled that Michigan has around 110,000 Jewish voters of voting age, the majority in Oakland County, a number that, he said, could weigh in on a tight election.

What's at stake

Tuesday's election is the last of the first term of Donald Trump's administration, who called it "the most important midterm election of our lifetimes", according to the opening of the program. The president is expected to deliver his last major address at 2 p.m. ET at the Lincoln Memorial, while the vice president heads to upstate New York and Ohio.

For the investor, the outcome defines control of Congress and, with it, the direction of the economic agenda and the balance of power in Washington. The transcript does not include projections on the stock market, interest rates or exchange rate, and the assessments described here are from the channel's panel, not from the newspaper.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.