Mike Rogers dishes on how shock Haley Stevens endorsement unfolded hours before Election Day

By Fox News · Fox News

Michigan Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers praised Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens for putting America ahead of her party Monday while accusing Democrats of viciously attacking the congresswoman after she stunned her party by endorsing him over Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed . Rogers told Brian Kilmeade on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" that Stevens’ endorsement "flipped this thing upside down," saying the congresswoman called him Sunday morning while he was on his way to church before ultimately deciding to publicly back his campaign following her bruising primary loss to El-Sayed. "This is a congresswoman who just stood up and said, 'America is more important than my party right now,'" Rogers said. "And we cannot elect somebody who is so anti-Jewish, who is divisive, who's angry, who was mean about his politics. It's just the wrong thing to do." EL SAYED'S LEFT-WING ALLIES ATTACK 'EVIL' STEVENS AFTER BOMBSHELL ROGERS ENDORSEMENT Rogers' comments came as Fox News reported Monday that Stevens' endorsement triggered backlash from top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Schumer called the move a "despicable betrayal," while Pelosi accused Stevens of "dangerously" betraying Michigan families by backing Rogers. The endorsement marked a dramatic break for Stevens, who had stopped short of explicitly endorsing El-Sayed in the weeks after losing the Democratic primary but continued to publicly align herself with the party. During an October CNN interview, Stevens was repeatedly pressed on whether she supported El-Sayed and declined to explicitly say she endorsed him, instead stressing that she was "still on the team" and planned to support Democrats on the ballot. The tensions between the former primary rivals had been building in the closing stretch of the race. Stevens pressed El-Sayed to condemn an outside group'…