Nancy Pelosi advised House Democrats against ousting Rep. Haley Stevens from the caucus after her last-minute endorsement of a Republican Senate candidate.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Tuesday that colleagues should not boot Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens from the House Democratic caucus before the 120th Congress begins, even as party leaders fume over her decision to back a Republican.
The Hill reported that Pelosi spoke as Democrats prepare to take control and face open anger at Stevens for crossing party lines in a Michigan Senate race.
Stevens had already endorsed Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed after he narrowly defeated her in a bitter primary earlier this year. She then gave a last-minute endorsement to former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in that same race. She cited differences with El-Sayed over U.S. support for Israel as a major reason.
Michigan and national Democrats exploded. Some accused her of betraying the party. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the endorsement a “terrible decision” and said lawmakers would consider “next steps” as Congress reconvened this week.
Pelosi struck a different note. She said she had conveyed her disappointment to Stevens over the endorsement and wanted to be “helpful” afterward. She drew a hard line against rushing discipline now.
Pelosi told reporters:
"Well, we have about three more weeks or two more weeks of being in the Congress, so I don’t think we should start making judgments about anybody in the caucus at this point,"
The 120th Congress will open a new stretch of Democratic control, with a fresh class of Democrats joining both chambers. Pelosi framed the moment as one for celebration, not internal score-settling.
Asked about concern that Stevens might return while intending to caucus with Republicans, Pelosi declined to speak for her.
She said:
"You’ll just have to ask her that, about what her plans are. But nonetheless, let’s focus on the very positive. This is a great day for our country,"
Stevens did not walk the endorsement back. Last Wednesday she tripled down, said she did not regret it, and apologized only for the personal fallout.
She apologized “that it upset some of my colleagues and people I care about personally.” She also said she remains devoted to re-establishing talks on “how we build tolerance from viewpoints and embrace one another, especially when we disagree.”
State party leaders showed less patience. Curtis Hertel, who chairs the Michigan Democratic Party, said Stevens was no longer a “current member of the Michigan Democratic Party,” and that she will not be “in the future.”
That left Stevens in an unusual spot: still a sitting House Democrat for the final weeks of this Congress, already cast out by her state party, and under pressure from national colleagues who want consequences inside the caucus.
Stevens made the Israel dispute explicit. She said her break with El-Sayed over U.S. support for Israel drove the late switch to Rogers. Democrats had lined up behind El-Sayed after the primary. Her move handed ammunition to critics who say the party is fracturing over that issue and punishing members who will not fall in line.
Jeffries faces several high-profile topics likely to divide Democrats as the new majority takes shape. The Stevens episode landed on that docket before the midterm victories were even fully digested. His “next steps” language left open the door to disciplinary action once the House is back in session.
Pelosi’s message was the opposite: wait out the remaining two or three weeks, avoid judgments about caucus members now, and keep the focus on the incoming Democratic class and the party’s return to power.
Whether that holds is another question. Stevens has already been written out of the Michigan Democratic Party. Jeffries has labeled her choice terrible. Some Democrats still want her removed from the House caucus before the 120th Congress begins. Pelosi is telling them to stand down, for now.
A party that cannot tolerate a member who sides with a Republican over Israel is advertising its own priorities. Voters can decide what that says about the coalition Democrats just put back in charge.
