RebelAt, CC BY-SA 3.0; Cannon House, 2007 archive crop.
Several House Democrats called for Rep. Haley Stevens to be removed from their party’s caucus in reports Sunday and early Monday, after the Michigan Democrat endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for the U.S. Senate. The calls opened a new dispute over how her colleagues should respond ahead of Tuesday’s election.
No caucus motion, vote or removal has been announced in the reports. The demand concerns membership in the House Democratic group, not expulsion from Congress.
Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas, who had supported Stevens in the Democratic Senate primary, said he would move to remove her. “I’d be the first to make the motion to remove her,” he told POLITICO.
Reps. Lateefah Simon of California and Emily Randall of Washington also backed removing Stevens, according to Axios. “I’d support that,” Randall said. Veasey separately told Axios he agreed with the call.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington told POLITICO she supported removal too. But Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior Michigan Democrat, argued against discussing punishment before Tuesday’s election. “I think we shouldn’t be discussing [this] and focus on Tuesday for this time,” she told the publication.
The disagreement follows Stevens’ decision to back Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated her in the August primary. Stevens had criticized El-Sayed’s response to rhetoric about Israel and antisemitism. Her endorsement gave the Republican a prominent Democratic supporter in a closely watched Senate contest.
Stevens defended the decision in a Sunday-night interview, as JBizNews reported in its coverage of her defense of the Rogers endorsement. Dingell said Stevens had earlier told her she would not make that endorsement.
The caucus debate leaves Democrats weighing a response to a colleague’s break with the party while trying to keep attention on the election. The named lawmakers’ statements show support for action, but do not establish that party leaders have agreed to hold a vote or that Stevens has lost her caucus membership.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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