The El-Sayed $2.4 million fundraising day has turned a stunning Democratic defection in Michigan into a rallying moment for the Democrat left behind. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed raised $2.4 million on Sunday, November 1, 2026, the day his former primary rival, Representative Haley Stevens, withdrew her support and endorsed his Republican opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers, in Michigan's open Senate race. His campaign said it was his biggest fundraising day yet in the campaign, with donations from more than 65,000 donors, including more than 29,000 people giving for the first time.

The figure, reported on Monday, November 2, by CNN and The Wall Street Journal from the campaign's own account, arrived less than 48 hours before Michigan voters head to the polls on Tuesday, November 3. It also reframed the weekend's most talked-about moment in the midterm elections: an endorsement switch that shocked Democrats, split Stevens from her own staff and party, and drew a furious response from Democratic leaders — but that, at least in fundraising terms, appears to have energised El-Sayed's supporters rather than demoralised them.

Key Points

• Abdul El-Sayed raised $2.4 million on Sunday, November 1, after Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, which his campaign called its biggest fundraising day yet.
• The campaign said the money came from more than 65,000 donors, including more than 29,000 first-time donors, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• Earlier on Sunday, the campaign had already reported more than $1.2 million in about four hours, at that point its second-largest single-day total since winning the August primary.
• Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday morning outside a Detroit church, after telling allies as late as Saturday night that she was sticking with El-Sayed, CNN reported.
• Before the defection, CNN's most recent Michigan poll had El-Sayed leading Rogers by seven points, with 95 percent support from Democratic likely voters.

What Happened

Stevens appeared with Rogers at a Black church in Detroit on Sunday morning and then announced her change of heart to reporters outside and on social media, CNN reported. In a video endorsing Rogers, she said El-Sayed had told her she was no longer welcome on his campaign and should stay away. "He's right, and that's why I'm endorsing Mike Rogers," she said, adding: "We have to stand with country. We can't stand with hate."

Within hours, money began pouring into El-Sayed's campaign. Politico first reported that the campaign had raised $1.2 million in roughly four hours after the endorsement news broke, a figure the campaign described at that stage as its second-largest single-day total since El-Sayed beat Stevens in the bitterly contested August primary. By the end of Sunday, the campaign's full-day total had doubled that early figure to $2.4 million, which the campaign said was its best day of the cycle.

The Democratic National Committee joined the effort on Sunday evening, sending a joint fundraising appeal under El-Sayed's name with the subject line "Who this election is actually about," according to Politico's reporting. Democratic leaders who had condemned Stevens' move also rallied publicly behind El-Sayed, turning the endorsement row into a test of whether anger among Democratic donors could outweigh the loss of a high-profile supporter.

El-Sayed himself played down the drama on Sunday, standing alongside South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn at his own church event in Detroit. Asked whether he believed Stevens had betrayed his party by backing Rogers, he said: "At the end of the day, I actually don't think about Haley Stevens. I think about, like I said, the 9,999,998 people who are not those two. Because you know what? I'm just less interested in the politics of it all than I am in the policy of it all."

Background and Context

The Michigan Senate race is for an open seat, and it could help decide which party controls the Senate for the final two years of President Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, and Democrats need a net gain of at least four seats to take control. Michigan is one of the most closely watched contests because the polling before the weekend put El-Sayed ahead, and because the race has exposed a deep and emotional divide inside the Democratic coalition.

El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, won the Democratic nomination in August, beating Stevens by less than a percentage point. Support for Israel was a key sticking point in the primary. Stevens was backed in the primary by tens of millions of dollars in spending from groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, while El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of Israel's actions in Gaza and of United States military aid to Israel. The two hugged at a state party unity breakfast shortly after the primary, but CNN reported that they had not campaigned together in months or spoken directly during that time.

Democrats had tried to negotiate a joint appearance on Sunday at a Black church in Detroit alongside Clyburn, one of the party's most influential figures, with the goal of shoring up Black support for El-Sayed. Stevens said on Friday morning that Clyburn, who had endorsed and campaigned with her in the primary, had invited her to the church, and that she would attend, marking the first time she would appear jointly with El-Sayed on the campaign trail. She also issued a list of demands, including pressing El-Sayed to denounce a new advertisement from an outside group that blamed United States aid to Israel for Americans' struggles with high costs.

It became clear late on Friday that the joint appearance would not happen, when reports emerged that El-Sayed's campaign had asked Stevens to skip all campaign events in the race's closing days. Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, later said she was the one who delivered that message to Stevens. Still, on Saturday, El-Sayed denounced the advertisement, and Stevens issued a statement praising him for doing so — developments that made her decision on Sunday more surprising to many Democrats close to her.

As recently as Saturday night, the prospect of Stevens endorsing Rogers had seemed implausible, CNN reported. When staffers reached out last week to urge her not to endorse Rogers, Stevens replied in a text message, according to a person who saw it: "Omg why would you think I would do that??!!" At midnight on Saturday, she told a key ally that she was sticking with El-Sayed. Then, on Sunday morning, things changed. Most of her own congressional staffers found out about her decision on social media and promptly quit, according to a statement from her chief of staff and people familiar with the matter.

El-Sayed $2.4 Million: What the Fundraising Surge Means

The $2.4 million figure matters for two reasons, and both cut in opposite directions for the campaigns. For El-Sayed, it is evidence that the endorsement switch, far from collapsing his campaign in its final days, has given his supporters a reason to give — and to give quickly. More than 29,000 first-time donors in a single day suggests the money came not only from existing supporters digging deeper, but from new donors drawn in by the weekend's headlines. In a race where early voting is already well advanced, a late surge of small donations can also signal enthusiasm that polls, which measure intentions rather than energy, may not fully capture.

For Rogers, the fundraising surge is a reminder that an endorsement, however dramatic, does not by itself move votes. Before Stevens' defection, CNN's most recent poll of the Michigan Senate race had El-Sayed leading Rogers by seven points, with 95 percent support from Democratic likely voters. The final New York Times and Siena University polls, released on Sunday evening, put El-Sayed ahead by 11 points in Michigan, 53 percent to 42 percent. Rogers has predicted publicly that he could win as much as half the Jewish vote on Tuesday, and his aides have argued that Stevens' move could help him with voters who were uneasy about El-Sayed. But the fundraising response suggests that, among Democrats, the dominant reaction so far has been anger at Stevens rather than agreement with her.

There is also a limit to what the figure proves. Fundraising totals are reported by campaigns themselves, and they are not independently audited in real time. A single day of strong donations does not guarantee turnout on Election Day, particularly since many Michigan voters had already cast early ballots before the weekend. What it does show, unambiguously, is that the Stevens endorsement did not starve El-Sayed's campaign of money in its final stretch. If anything, it did the opposite.

Reactions and Quotes

Democratic leaders moved swiftly on Sunday to condemn Stevens and to back El-Sayed. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who had tacitly supported Stevens in the primary, accused her of a "despicable betrayal" and said: "Senate Democrats are united in our support for Abdul El-Sayed, because we know he will fight for the economic interests of working families in Michigan, unlike Mike Rogers, who is a tool of Donald Trump and billionaire donors."

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who just days earlier had said El-Sayed's views on Israel were "wrong" and "more than concerning," said on social media that El-Sayed "must win," and that Stevens "has chosen to dangerously betray Michigan families' healthcare, freedoms and future with her horrific endorsement of Mike Rogers." Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens "is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future."

Stevens defended her decision in an interview on Sunday night with CNN's Anderson Cooper, saying that endorsing Rogers was "just a weight off my shoulders." She struggled, however, to answer questions about why she had changed her mind between Saturday and Sunday. "Abdul has been getting angrier and angrier," she said. "There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee, and they're just being told, 'Hey, this is a party you don't belong in, or this is a campaign you don't belong in.'"

Dingell, who had told CNN on Sunday that Stevens reassured her on Saturday that she was not switching sides, reacted by saying: "That was one of the most painful interviews I have ever watched." As Stevens and Rogers spoke to reporters outside the church after the service, an individual in the crowd shouted: "Haley's a traitor!" President Trump, speaking at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, praised Stevens as "very brave" for endorsing Rogers and said she should join the Republican Party.

Why It Matters

Michigan matters because it is one of the few Senate races where the outcome could decide control of the chamber, and because the Stevens episode has become a proxy for a much larger argument inside the Democratic Party about Israel, about who belongs in the party, and about how a nominee who wins a close primary should treat the rival he defeated. El-Sayed's fundraising surge does not settle that argument, but it does answer one practical question that hung over Sunday: whether Democratic donors would punish the nominee for the row, or reward him for it. On Sunday, they rewarded him.

The episode also matters for what it reveals about the final days of a campaign. Stevens was strongest in the August primary with Black and Jewish Democrats, some of whom have balked at supporting El-Sayed. Rogers aides, aware that his path to victory largely depended on a Democratic split, had hoped Stevens' endorsement would give those voters permission to cross over. The $2.4 million day suggests that, at least among the most engaged Democrats, the endorsement has instead become a rallying point for El-Sayed — a shared sense of the stakes, in CNN's phrase, uniting a coalition in the race's final days.

Finally, the timing matters. With voting on Tuesday, there is little time left for either campaign to change the story again. Rogers' best hope is that Stevens' endorsement moves voters who are not donors — older Black voters who tend to vote on Election Day, and Jewish voters uneasy about El-Sayed's positions — in numbers that a fundraising total cannot measure. El-Sayed's best hope is that the surge of new donors reflects a broader surge of enthusiasm that carries through to Tuesday. The result will show which reading was right.

What Happens Next

Michiganders vote on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, in midterm elections that will decide all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats, and with them control of Congress for Trump's final two years in office. In Michigan, the Senate race is the headline contest, alongside House races and state contests that will shape the state's politics for years.

Both campaigns will spend Monday making their closing arguments. Trump is scheduled to deliver his final midterm pitch at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington on Monday afternoon, while Democratic candidates, including El-Sayed, hold final get-out-the-vote rallies. The Michigan result is expected to be among the most closely watched on election night, not only for who wins, but for the margin: a comfortable El-Sayed win would suggest the Stevens endorsement backfired, while a narrow Rogers win would suggest it tipped a close race.

After the election, the fundraising figures will be filed with the Federal Election Commission and can be checked against the campaign's claims. For now, the $2.4 million day stands as the most concrete measure of how Democratic voters responded to the weekend's shock: not by walking away from El-Sayed, but by opening their wallets for him.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did El-Sayed raise after Stevens endorsed Rogers?

His campaign said it raised $2.4 million on Sunday, November 1, 2026, its biggest fundraising day yet, from more than 65,000 donors, including more than 29,000 first-time donors.

Who is Haley Stevens and why did her endorsement matter?

Stevens is a Democratic representative who lost the August Michigan Senate primary to El-Sayed by less than a percentage point. On Sunday she endorsed Republican Mike Rogers instead of her party's nominee, a rare cross-party endorsement two days before the election.

What did Stevens say when she endorsed Rogers?

She said El-Sayed had told her she was no longer welcome on his campaign and should stay away, adding: "He's right, and that's why I'm endorsing Mike Rogers."

Who is leading the Michigan Senate race?

Before the defection, CNN's most recent poll had El-Sayed leading Rogers by seven points. The final New York Times and Siena University poll put El-Sayed ahead 53 percent to 42 percent.

When do Michigan voters decide the race?

Voting takes place on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, in the midterm elections, which will also decide control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Related coverage on US News Pulse:

• Democrat Haley Stevens Endorses Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan Senate Race
• Haley Stevens Staff Resign After Michigan Endorsement Shocks Democrats
• Trump Brands Michigan Democrat El-Sayed a Jihadist at Dubuque Rally Before Midterms
• Final NYT/Siena Polls: Democrats Lead All Seven Key Senate Races Before Election Day