Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens has delivered a stunning betrayal in the Senate race, endorsing Republican nominee Mike Rogers instead of Democratic nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. The move follows months of tension after El-Sayed defeated Stevens in the Democratic primary.

Stevens narrowly lost that August primary after a bitter campaign shaped by extraordinary outside spending. Groups affiliated with the Israel aligned lobbying organization AIPAC spent more than $30 million supporting her candidacy.

After losing, Stevens endorsed El-Sayed, but the show of party unity never developed into much of an alliance. The two have barely spoken since the primary and have not appeared together on the campaign trail.

Their most significant disagreement has centered on Israel. Stevens strongly supports the country, while El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and of U.S. military assistance.

The dispute escalated Wednesday when Jason Turkish, Stevens’ fiancé, told The Detroit News that he planned to vote for Rogers. Turkish cited concerns about El-Sayed’s positions on Israel as his reason for supporting the Republican nominee.

Stevens then appeared on CNN and reaffirmed that she intended to vote for El-Sayed. Yet the relationship between the former rivals seemed so strained that the El-Sayed campaign asked Stevens to stay away and canceled a joint appearance planned for Sunday.

Adding another strange turn, Stevens demanded that El-Sayed remove an advertisement featuring Tucker Carlson criticizing Rogers. Stevens claimed the advertisement disrespected Michigan’s Black community, an objection that looks especially bizarre beside her decision to endorse the Republican candidate.

The advertisement came from Rebellion PAC, and El-Sayed publicly rejected it Saturday. “I do not agree with the contents of that ad,” he said, explicitly distancing himself from the message before Stevens made her endorsement.

At that point, Stevens still appeared to be supporting the Democratic nominee. Prominent LGBTQ+ writer Charlotte Clymer said she spoke directly with Stevens on Saturday and received personal assurances that Stevens remained behind El-Sayed.

“Feeling a bit absurd in pointing out the obvious and being far kinder than I should have been, I reminded her that the outcome of this senate race will be viewed in the light of a future Supreme Court vacancy, and I expressed a hope that all of us understand the stakes,” Clymer wrote on X.

Clymer said Stevens responded by sending a video of a recent speech in which she attacked Rogers. According to Clymer, Stevens also wrote: “Still stands. I promise.”

That promise certainly did not stand for long. Stevens subsequently backed Rogers, leaving Clymer to condemn the endorsement as a profound abandonment of the commitments Stevens had previously expressed toward LGBTQ+ people.

“Whatever other political differences we have, she has always made it clear to me she would stand with LGBTQ people. It was a red line she refused to cross. Instead, she has made the inexplicable decision to endorse a man who views LGBTQ Americans as second-class citizens unworthy of full equality,” Clymer wrote.

The endorsement is not expected to affect the race, but its damage to Stevens’ standing as a Democrat is another matter. By choosing Rogers over the Democratic nominee, she has effectively brought her own career within the party to an abrupt and humiliating end.

Perhaps the next stop will be Fox News, where Stevens could join the familiar parade of political figures complaining that the Democratic Party supposedly left them. In this case, however, Stevens made the choice to leave her party’s nominee behind.