Endless Urgency is always free to read, and it always will be. But Haley Stevens just showed us what happens when people stop fighting for something bigger than themselves. We’re not going to be those people. This community only grows because people like you decide to put skin in the game. Every subscription lets us hit back harder, reach more people, and make sure every betrayal gets called out loud and clear. Tuesday is coming. Don’t just watch. Join us. Just $8/month makes a huge difference:
Already a paid subscriber? Then like, share, and keep showing up in the comments. It matters more than you know.
I wasn’t planning on sending out a rant tonight. But when a Democrat like Haley Stevens endorses a Republican like Mike Rogers for the United States Senate two days before an election, somebody has to say what it means to actually believe in something bigger than yourself. Because she clearly doesn’t know.
I just got home from a unity event on the North Side of Chicago that I helped organize. We brought every wing of the party into one room to thank our volunteers, remind people to vote, and talk about why we do this. I got to introduce our next Lieutenant Governor, Christian Mitchell, and Governor JB Pritzker.
My speech was 60 seconds long. All I said was that I was grateful to be in a room full of people I knew believed in our democracy. People who will fight for immigrant communities under attack by our own federal government. People who will work to make this state better and fight for the least of us against a fascist government that doesn’t give a damn about any of us.
It was the kind of night that reminds you what this party is for. As Paul Wellstone used to say, politics is about the improvement of people’s lives. Haley Stevens spent her day reminding us what it looks like to forget that.
Endless Urgency is free to read, thanks to our paid subscribers. Haley Stevens chose her petty grudge over your rights. Our paid subscribers chose to fight. If you’re sick of watching people sell out this party when it matters most, help keep this work loud, independent, and free for everyone. Become a paid subscriber tonight. Just $8/month makes a huge difference:
When she endorsed Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed this morning, she didn’t even pretend it was about policy. Not Israel. Not anything. She made it about herself. She’s mad she got booed at the convention. She’s mad she lost the primary. She’s mad some trolls on the internet were mean to her. And apparently that’s enough to throw away everything she ever claimed to stand for and hand her endorsement to a Republican.
That’s not a principled stand. That’s a sore loser with a microphone.
And let’s be clear about who she’s standing with. Mike Rogers will be a rubber stamp for every single thing Donald Trump wants in the back half of his term. Every ounce of corruption. Every ounce of destruction. Every scheme to rig this economy for a handful of billionaires and the corrupt assholes stuffing money into Trump’s back pocket instead of yours.
This is a man who supports a nationwide abortion ban, and just got caught on tape saying so. A man who helped build the surveillance state and doesn’t believe in your right to privacy. A man who has run the most racist Senate campaign I’ve seen in my two-decade career. The attacks on Abdul El-Sayed have been vile, and everyone who’s watched this race knows it.
That’s who Haley Stevens chose today.
Now, I didn’t support Abdul in the primary. I was with Mallory McMorrow. And Mallory is exactly what it looks like to lose with dignity.
Mallory had every right to be angry. Fake polls were put out that hurt her fundraising. She took ugly, untrue attacks online. She could have nursed that grudge all the way to November. Instead, she endorsed Abdul right after the primary and went to work helping Democrats win up and down the ballot in Michigan.
That’s how this is supposed to work. We fight it out in the primary. Then we rally around what we share and take on the people who are wrecking the global economy, waging an illegal war, and stealing billions from the American people. A lot of us who backed someone else in that race have spent the months since defending Abdul against racist attacks, because every Democrat is better than every Republican, especially with Donald Trump running the Republican Party.
That’s the difference between a party and a grievance. Mallory understood it. Haley never did.
But here’s the thing. Haley Stevens wanted to blow up this race. Instead, she blew up her own career and unified the Democratic Party in the process.
Today the establishment, the left, and everyone in between spoke with one voice. She may have done more to unite Democrats in the closing days of this election than anyone not named Barack Obama. Impressive. Thank you, Haley.
It’s why Abdul is raising money hand over fist on ActBlue right now. It’s why, according to my sources on the ground in Michigan, more people than ever are signing up to volunteer in the final 48 hours. It’s why a new New York Times poll has Abdul up 11 over Rogers. I think it’ll be closer than that, but that number is what Democratic enthusiasm looks like.
Haley cooked up this stunt to rescue a desperate Mike Rogers and a desperate Donald Trump in Michigan. It’s going to backfire, and she’s going to fade into irrelevance faster than she can update her LinkedIn.
And honestly, I’m grateful. When you watch someone betray everything they said they believed in, you see the worst of them. But you also get to see the best of everyone else. Tonight I’m seeing the best of this party: unified around the people and values we believe in, and unified against a corrupt, fascist administration and petty loser leaders like Trump, Vance, and Mike Rogers.
And yes… Haley Stevens.
The Democratic Party isn’t perfect. But it is still the last best hope for decency and progress in this country. On Tuesday, we’re going to elect a lot of good people, Abdul El-Sayed among them, and they’re going to help move this country forward. I’m proud to support him, and I’ll be proud to watch him win.
Then let’s fucking get back to work.
With urgency,
—Mike
She's quite the piece of work, that type of betrayal makes her well suited to be in the Republican party. Maybe Vivek will give her a job finding abuse victims to further abuse.
Couldn't disagree more and to miss what's really happening here is beyond foolish