Courage in politics is rare. When it shows itself, we should celebrate it. But most often, it's vilified.

I thought that when Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a Republican blue-blood, joined nine other Republicans in voting to impeach President Donald Trump, and then became a leader of the House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. She knew it would likely end her political career and destroy her hopes of becoming House speaker, but she followed her conscience instead of her ambition. History will remember her as a hero.

Rep. Haley Stevens should be placed in that category as well, and yet the same Democrats who lionized Cheney for sticking to her beliefs are damning Stevens for abiding by hers.

The easiest path for the Democratic congresswoman from Birmingham, when asked to support Abdul El-Sayed in his race for the U.S. Senate, would have been to do nothing. And that's what she did for a while. She gave lip service to backing her former primary rival and left it at that, worried that doing less would be seen as sour grapes from a sore loser.

But when El-Sayed equivocated on antisemitism, she could not just shrug and fall in line with the rest of her party. She represents a district with a large Jewish population that is genuinely afraid of what they may face should El-Sayed win Nov. 3.

Voters didn't elect Stevens to simply raise her hand whenever Democrats call the roll. They expect her to represent their interests.

So Sunday, Nov. 1, Stevens showed up at Detroit's Perfecting Church and slid into a pew next to former Congressman Mike Rogers, El-Sayed's rival in the Senate race. After the service, she released a video endorsement of Rogers.

It was more than anyone expected. The hope going into the Sunday service was that she'd simply say she wasn't voting for El-Sayed because he failed to convincingly clarify his commitment to protecting Jewish Americans. But she was not in the mood for half-measures. She wanted to be certain there was no room to spin away the significance of her action.

Immediately, social media lit up with accusations of betrayal and disloyalty. She's being called Benedict Arnold. She's tagged as a bitter woman looking for revenge. Her Democratic colleagues and longtime friends are shunning her and she's been declared unwelcome in the party she's served for years.

But if Stevens believes, as she says she does, that El-Sayed travels too closely to antisemites and may harbor animosity toward Jews himself, how could she do anything else? Stevens, a Protestant, recently became engaged to a Jewish man. How could she look him in the eyes and defend a decision not to use her position to fight antisemitism?

The reaction to Steven's choice reveals the core problem with American politics: Partisanship rules.

For 26 years I have vetted candidates for Detroit News endorsements. In every case, the candidate under consideration vows to go to Washington, or to Lansing, and put the people ahead of politics. And as soon as they're seated, they step forward to kiss the rings of their party leaders, who reward their allegiance with perks and plum assignments. The people go on the shelf.

That explains how, in a system in which all politicians purport to follow their conscience, nearly every consequential issue is decided by a straight party vote.

Stevens had nothing to gain by bucking the party line. The decision finished her in Democratic politics. And she's not likely to accept President Donald Trump's invitation to join the GOP.

"Haley Stevens knew full well what the political consequences would be," says former Rep. Candice Miller, now Macomb County's public works director. "And yet she stood up and chose her country first."

For that, she should be held up as an example of what selfless leadership should look like in today's divided America.

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