Michigan Democrats Unify Behind Republican After Primary Defeat

Michigan Democrats achieved historic party unity Sunday when Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, demonstrating that the surest way to heal a primary is to help the opposing party defeat its winner. Stevens, who lost the Democratic nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, had endorsed El-Sayed before withdrawing that support and appearing with Rogers at a Detroit church two days before Election Day. Several aides resigned, having failed to master the advanced electoral principle that losing a primary entitles the loser to hold a second, smaller primary involving only herself and the Republican.

President Donald Trump praised the maneuver as the highest form of Democratic loyalty. “Haley showed tremendous loyalty, really tremendous, by endorsing the Republican after losing to the Democrat, which is exactly what the Founding Fathers demanded in Article Eight,” Trump said. “People never read Article Eight, but it’s probably the most important one.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer denounced the endorsement, revealing his continued attachment to the outdated superstition that Democratic lawmakers should support Democrats. Rogers welcomed Stevens into a coalition of Republicans, former Democrats, disappointed primary candidates and public servants who believe conceding gracefully is an extremist plot to make election results matter.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens was no longer a member of the party, an administrative technicality expected to disappear once Democrats modernize their nomination process. Under the proposed reform, primary voters would continue casting ballots for ceremonial purposes, after which the losing candidate would select a winner from the other party and explain that principle required it. Political analysts hailed the arrangement as post-partisanship, a mature system in which politicians rise above labels, platforms, voters and their own previously recorded statements to pursue the one cause capable of uniting the country: ensuring that the person who defeated them is also defeated. Michigan has therefore perfected democracy by transferring final authority from voters to whoever they rejected.

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