Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens has walked away from Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the state's open U.S. Senate race. On Sunday she threw her backing to Republican nominee Mike Rogers instead.

Stevens had battled El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination earlier in the cycle. Rather than line up behind the man who beat her in that primary, she is now siding with the GOP candidate.

She still went out of her way to say kind things about El-Sayed and his family. Stevens also insisted her surprise move was "not anti-Muslim."

A rowdy press event

Stevens appeared alongside Rogers at a joint news conference to announce the decision. Someone in the crowd shouted that she was a "traitor" and the event was cut short soon after.

Her fiance Jason Turkish had hinted on Friday that this could happen. He said Stevens might pull her support unless El-Sayed spoke out against political ads she considered antisemitic.

Stevens says she no longer felt welcome on the campaign trail with El-Sayed. She told Rogers early Sunday that she planned to go to church and then announce her support for him.

Staff walk out

The fallout inside her own office was swift. According to reports her chief of staff plus her communications director both resigned Sunday morning as the endorsement was about to go public.

El-Sayed later spoke with reporters. Asked about the endorsement, he brushed it off with a short reply: "I don't think about Haley Stevens."

A request for comment sent to the Stevens office has not been answered so far.