Michigan Democratic congresswoman supports Republican Mike Rogers for Senate ahead of midterm elections

Democratic Representative Haley Stevens, from Michigan, declared her support for Republican Mike Rogers in the Senate race, two days before the midterm elections in the United States, breaking with her own party's candidate, identified as Abdul. The information was highlighted on Fox News programs shown on the eve of the vote.

According to the transcript, Stevens announced the decision during a trip to a church. She stated that her vote would be given to Rogers because "we have to stand with the country" and that the choice was personal and private. The presenters, all conservative, treated the episode as a late “October surprise”.

According to the presenters' report, the congresswoman said that Abdul made it clear that she was not welcome in his campaign, despite her supporting him after the primary. She also cited discomfort with an ad linked to a relative of the candidate's ally, streamer Hassan Piker, which associated US aid to Israel with the price of food. According to the program, Stevens demanded that the candidate condemn the play and he refused.

The reaction within the Democratic Party

Still according to Fox News, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, described Stevens' attitude as a betrayal, and Senator Elissa Slotkin called her selfish. The presenters stated that the deputy's team resigned en masse the day before. These points were presented by the channel, and the transcript does not contain the Democrats' original statements.

The program also recalled that Stevens beat Abdul in Detroit, but that he won the primary by about one point. In the opinion of one of the presenters, the party that calls itself a "big tent" punishes anyone who disagrees. This is the opinion of the channel, not actually independently verified.

The conservative argument and the message to voters

In her opening remarks, host Laura Ingraham argued that the Democratic Party has moved to the radical left and that voters should look beyond the price of gasoline, which she acknowledged was temporarily high. In her view, Democratic policies would raise prices and increase public spending to "buy votes", with France and Brazil cited as negative examples.

Ingraham also appealed to Barack Obama's record in midterm elections. According to her, in 2010 the party lost 63 seats in the Chamber, the biggest loss by a party since 1948, in addition to six in the Senate, in a context of 9% unemployment and reaction against Obamacare. In 2014, he stated, there was another defeat, with the loss of nine seats in the Senate and 13 in the Chamber.

What to watch out for

The transcript does not contain research, result projections or market data. Fox News presents the Michigan dispute as decisive for the balance of the Senate, which, in the channel's logic, matters for the tax, spending and regulation agenda. For investors, the outcome of the polls is a factor of attention to the fiscal environment and the mood of American assets, but any effect on the stock market, interest rates and the dollar will depend on the result and the policies that follow.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.