News: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) is running for Michigan’s open Senate seat, joining a crowded primary in a must-win battleground state for Democrats in 2026.
The 41-year-old Stevens flipped a GOP-held House seat in 2018 and has emerged as a center-left voice in D.C. who’s focused on the automotive industry and other Michigan issues.
In a campaign launch video, Stevens highlights her role working as a top aide on former President Barack Obama’s auto rescue team. Stevens’ ad plays a rally clip of Obama praising the Democrat as a “critical part of my team that helped the American auto industry come roaring back.”
Stevens also criticized President Donald Trump’s “chaos and reckless tariffs.”
“Donald Trump says he ‘couldn’t care less’ if auto prices rise,” Stevens says. “Well, as someone who spent my time in Congress fighting for Michigan jobs, Michigan families, and Michigan workers, I couldn’t care more.” The tone is noteworthy since Trump carried Michigan in November and Stevens is coming out of the gate slamming him.
Democrats who won in tough districts have long called on the party to focus more on pocketbook issues. It’s a strategy Stevens is applying, arguing in her campaign launch that while Michiganders are “feeling the hit of higher prices,” Trump only brings “more chaos.”
Stevens’ Democratic primary opponents are state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a rising star who’s trying to claim the political outsider lane, and former health official Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who’s won the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Stevens has experience winning competitive primary races. In 2022, redistricting forced Stevens to face off against her House Democratic colleague Andy Levin in a primary. Stevens beat Levin, a progressive who ran to her left, by 20 points.
In a preview of what could become an expensive Senate primary, AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, spent heavily to boost Stevens. UDP could take a special interest in this race given El-Sayed is a prominent critic of Israel.
Republicans are already consolidating around their unsuccessful 2024 candidate, Mike Rogers. The GOP is hoping Rogers will have more success in the open contest next year following Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-Mich.) retirement.
