Rep. Haley Stevens has plenty of critics after she threw her support behind Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race. She still found time to tell loved ones to keep a big day open on their calendars.

Stevens mailed a save-the-date note to friends and family for her upcoming wedding to Jason Turkish. The two first met in 2022.

The timing raised eyebrows. The note went out in the final day before a tight election that Stevens upended Sunday when she pulled her backing from Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Many fellow Democrats have since cut ties with her.

A strategist weighs in

Democratic strategist Lis Smith does not buy the idea that the switch was about principle. In an interview Monday she called it "personal grievance masquerading as political principle."

Smith noted that Stevens lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed and then spent two months publicly backing him. She asked why that support suddenly vanished just two days before voters head to the polls.

Her theory is that Stevens was stung after being uninvited from a church service held by the El-Sayed campaign. Smith suggested wounded pride rather than any policy gap is what tipped her.

Questions about the setting

Smith also criticized Stevens for announcing the endorsement at a Black church. She questioned whether Black voters were being used as political props.

She warned the move may have wrecked Stevens' political future overnight. She also argued it could backfire by casting El-Sayed as a scrappy outsider fighting the establishment.

Stevens had broken with El-Sayed after the two clashed over a campaign ad she called antisemitic. He later disavowed the ad.

Journalist Kara Swisher said Monday that she "feels sorry" for Stevens. Swisher said the congresswoman seems to be "going through something" and that friends sound worried about her mental health. She added that she does not expect the drama to change the outcome of the race.

For now Stevens and Turkish are at least on the same side politically. Both now back Rogers.