Lifelong Michigan Democrats told CNN on Election Day that they cast their ballots for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, with one voter saying simply, “I’m against hate.”
CNN correspondent Sunlen Serfaty reported Tuesday morning from a polling location in White Lake, Michigan, where she said it was easy to find voters “crossing party lines.”
One man, identified as Manny, told Serfaty he had never before voted for a Republican.
“What is the significance of that vote today?” Serfaty asked.
“Draw your own conclusions,” he replied.
“Why could you not vote for El-Sayed?” Serfaty followed up.
“Because I’m against hate,” he said.
Another voter, Deborah, said she backed Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., in the Democratic primary but voted Republican in the general election.
“That’s a pretty bold message,” Serfaty said.
“Yeah,” Deborah replied.
The crossover votes come days after Stevens rocked the race by withdrawing her endorsement of El-Sayed on Sunday and endorsing Rogers, less than 48 hours before Election Day.
Stevens, who narrowly lost the August primary to El-Sayed by about 1 percentage point, had demanded he condemn an ad by Cenk Uygur’s Rebellion PAC that showed a couple in a grocery store lamenting that they couldn’t afford food because of U.S. aid to Israel. El-Sayed’s campaign said it was not affiliated with the ad, and El-Sayed said he did not agree with its contents, but critics said he never explicitly condemned it.
“We can’t stand with hate,” Stevens told reporters.
In a tense interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night, Stevens said, “I’m just sick of the people he stands with.”
Stevens’ fiancé, Jason Turkish, who is Jewish, had already announced he would vote for Rogers, citing concerns about antisemitism.
Rogers welcomed Stevens’ support, saying her endorsement was about “standing together against hate and the future of this state and this country.”
El-Sayed brushed off the defection.
“At the end of the day I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he said, adding, “None of this matters.”
Many Democrats lashed out at Stevens. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Cooper she didn’t expect the endorsement to have much impact and suggested it could even help El-Sayed.
Rogers, a former congressman who lost a 2024 Senate bid to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by about 19,000 votes, is seeking the seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The race is one of the most closely watched contests in the country as Republicans fight to hold their Senate majority.
