Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat from Michigan’s 11th District, believes she is the best “champion” to fight back against President Donald Trump’s “chaos” in the Senate, citing her track record of serving the state in Congress and the Obama administration.
“It’s a frustrating time with the chaos coming down from Donald Trump and Elon Musk, but nothing’s gonna stop Michigan,” Stevens told Newsweek in an interview on Tuesday.
The Michigan Senate race will be one of the closest watched next year, with Republicans seeing it as a prime pickup opportunity. The race will be for an open seat, as Senator Gary Peters decided against a reelection bid.
Although both of the Great Lakes State’s senators are Democrats, Trump won the state in 2016 and again in 2024. Prior to current Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer‘s win in 2018, Michigan had a Republican leading the state for two terms. Former GOP Representative Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost his 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin, has already declared his candidacy for 2026.
Meanwhile, the Democratic primary is shaping up to be a competitive one. State Senator Mallory McMorrow was the first to announce at the beginning of April. She was followed by Abdul El-Sayed, former director of Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services, who was quickly endorsed by progressive Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, in mid-April. Stevens officially joined the race on April 22.
For her part, Stevens is touting her established track record in Congress of accomplishing things for her home state.
“I was able to do more for Michigan than I ever thought possible as a member of Congress,” she said.
Stevens was ranked by the Center for Effective Lawmaking by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University as Michigan’s most effective House Democrat in the 118th Congress. Overall, the Michigan congresswoman was ranked 12th among all 212 House Democrats.
Newsweek spoke with Stevens via Zoom for an exclusive interview on Tuesday. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Newsweek: As you start this campaign, what do you see as the main concerns facing Michigan voters and what do you plan to focus on in this campaign?
Haley Stevens: As a native Michigander, who grew up as the daughter of small business owners in Southeast Michigan—my parents actually had a landscaping business. It was a ton of hard work, a lot of grease, grime, dirt. My dad picking me up, oftentimes covered in dirt, you know, and I’d say, “Dad, why are you so dirty?” Well, it’s because he was working hard. And it is that value of hard Michigan work that has motivated me my entire career.
I’ll also share with you that my life and my career has been defined by putting up my hand for Michigan in moments of uncertainty or moments of crisis. During the Obama administration, I put up my hands to serve as chief of staff when the auto industry was about to go belly up. This is when General Motors and Chrysler were facing liquidation, true bankruptcy, and that auto rescue effort not only saved those companies, but it saved 200,000 Michigan jobs. We did so by working very closely with our friends from organized labor.
Now, one of the things that I am seeing as a fourth-term lawmaker, as someone who’s been so proud to represent our state in the United States House of Representatives, is that same level of worry and concern, that same level of uncertainty. And this is all coming from the Trump-Musk chaos agenda, combined with rising costs. So you have people who are putting their grocery bills on credit cards, who can’t buy a home or grow their family because they can’t find a place to live. Even automobiles, the costs are rising, they feel out of reach. Daycare remains very expensive. And yet we’re getting from Donald Trump, erratic, shoot by the hip, change by the minute tariffs that are causing a whole host of other uncertainty in people’s lives. Job insecurity is on the rise, small businesses are freaked out. And frankly, a whole industry is being disrupted before our very eyes.
People in Michigan never fathomed a trade war with Canada. They never fathomed that we’d actually see Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security get on the chopping block. Veterans, who are literally calling me, wondering if they’re going to get that benefit check. And then this is all coming at a time when our personal freedoms and our democracy are under attack. So I’m putting up my hand in this moment to be Michigan’s champion in the United States Senate, to do what I’ve always done, which is fight for Michigan and deliver for Michigan.
You’re someone who previously flipped a seat that had been held by a Republican. Given that experience, and also in the context of Michigan being one of the swingiest states, how do you think Democrats can win over swing voters and even potentially Republicans?
I, in 2018, put up my hand again to stand up for Michigan, to run for the United States House of Representatives. I became Michigan’s first millennial ever sent to the United States House of Representatives, I became the first woman to ever represent Michigan’s 11th District. I think I did best a lot of expectations in flipping Michigan’s District 8, a very long-held Republican seat. I did that by campaigning in the grassroots way, by meeting voters where they’re at, by truly hearing what was on their mind, asking them what they did for work, hearing over and over again from engineers and manufacturers and health care workers who I wanted to serve and champion in the United States House of Representatives.
And I’m so pleased to have recently been named one of the most effective lawmakers in the Congress, and the most effective House member for the Democrats for Michigan. And that shows, frankly, it shows me from that infancy campaign that I ran, that I was able to do more for Michigan than I ever thought possible as a member of Congress. You know, if it’s getting laws passed, like the Chips and Science Act, or if it is helping individual constituents with their day-to-day needs.
This primary is appearing to shape up to be relatively competitive. What do you think sets you apart from your Democratic competitors?
I’m a manufacturing geek. I have a really unique understanding of our workforce, our economy. I have visited over 250 unique manufacturers, small businesses, meeting people on shop floors and where they’re at, learning about the needs of our small business community and also having a track record of getting things done.
This is Michigan’s chief lawmaking job and having been recently named the most effective lawmaker for Michigan, I want to fight for Michigan in the United States Senate. I want to get the bill done that I just introduced at the start of the Trump administration, to curb the power and the reach of an unelected billionaire like Elon Musk. I want to get that bill done in the United States Senate. I’m also working on introducing legislation to further strengthen our supply chain and lessen our dependence on China. So I know how to fight for Michigan, and I know how to win for Michigan.
In your launch video, and also in this conversation, you mentioned your work with the automotive industry. When it comes to tariffs, actually some auto workers union leaders, like Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers Union, and even Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have said some favorable things about tariffs. What’s your perspective as someone who’s very familiar with this sector of the economy?
I was deeply proud to serve in the Obama administration on initiatives that were critical to Michigan, the U.S. auto rescue economic development efforts that have helped to diversify our state’s economy and now as a member of Congress who is laser focused on how we make things in Michigan and, yes, how we grow things. I think in terms of the tariffs, and what we’ve seen from the Trump administration, it has been nothing but erratic. We truly wake up every day to another announcement.
Our automotive industry very specifically needs certainty. They need rules of the road. If you are a purchaser, for instance, you need to know what your price points are. You need to be able to work in a complex way. On procuring widgets and different parts components to meet supply chain needs. This is a very complex web, interconnected throughout our state, throughout our country and throughout the world. And abrupt changes that truly come down by the minute are causing a whole heck of a lot of stress, and it’s uncalled for.
If you listen to our folks in the labor movement, who I have been so proud to work alongside for years in terms of various actions that I have taken on as a member of Congress, we need to protect the right to organize. We need to look at why factories in Michigan aren’t as full as they should be. And I’m very proud to work very closely alongside the UAW to bolster Michigan manufacturing, to bolster our workforce, and to frankly look at ways in which we can strengthen Michigan manufacturing and buy American content. But there’s a reason why Donald Trump’s approach right now is not cutting it. It’s not working for people. It’s really frustrating, and it’s causing a whole heck of a lot of uncertainty in a moment when we really shouldn’t be facing this.
Recently, Governor Whitmer got some criticism for her White House meeting with Trump, as well as her appearance with him when he was in Michigan last week. How do you view efforts from Democratic leaders like Governor Whitmer to work with Trump and his administration?
Let me say two things on this. First, Governor Whitmer, who I’ve campaigned alongside, who I’ve worked alongside for six and a half years as a member of Congress and with her as our governor, has always done everything she can to stand up for Michigan, Michigan workers, Michigan families and the Michigan economy. And I’m proud to have a fighter like her leading our state.
I can absolutely tell you what I’m doing right now as a member of Congress. I am standing up to the chaos. I am, standing up to the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and social security. This is very serious stuff. We should be looking at expanding Medicaid. We should look at holding insurance companies accountable for the cuts that they are putting down on hard-working Michiganders.
Everything that’s going on right now, threats to our manufacturing economy, and it’s not just the tariffs, it’s also repealing the Chips and Science Act, which Donald Trump said he wanted to do, a bill that I helped write and get done to stand up for our Michigan manufacturing economy to reinvest things like the energy production tax credit that are also under attack and under threat right now. That’s not gonna work for Michigan.
That’s where I’m focused, as a member of Congress, delivering for our state, but also making sure that this chaos does not wreak all the havoc it is already showing us. It’s wrecking the lives of Michiganders.
When it comes to that “chaos,” as you describe it, obviously right now Democrats are out of power in D.C. How can Democrats push back effectively in this moment?
I’m approaching this job right now as an elected federal official on behalf of the incredible state of Michigan and the people of Michigan’s 11th District as a lawmaker. I have my vote and I have my voice and I’m using both accordingly. I am not voting alongside the Trump administration in this moment to cut people’s earned benefits. I’m not voting for the cuts to our manufacturing sector and our manufacturing workforce. Every single day I am standing up, and I am elevating and using my voice in the sacred space of our democracy and the well of the House floor to showcase what Michiganders are telling me that they need.
I’m also using my federal office as best as possible to help people. So allow me to take a minute to just say, if you need help, call my office. We’re here to help you. We help veterans. We’ve returned, you know, over $100 million to the pocketbooks of Michiganders from the 11th District through making the federal government work better for people. And that’s with Social Security, other earned benefits and working alongside our small business community as well.
One of the things that people have been saying about Democrats is that the party seems kind of leaderless right now. I’m wondering, is there someone that you see in the Democratic Party that’s taking on a leadership mantle?
I can tell you what motivates me each and every single day, and that’s Michiganders who I am meeting as I campaign for U.S. Senate. I campaign to earn their vote. That to me is what it means to run for office, to serve in office, it is for the people, by the people. Everyday people right now are hurting and that is one of the reasons why I’m running for United States Senate, because costs are going up. Benefits are under attack. Our manufacturing economy is being rocked, just as our agricultural sector is also being impacted by tariffs. Michiganders deserve a champion in the United States Senate, and I believe that champion is me.
In Michigan in the last election, the “Uncommitted” movement was a big thing, largely driven by the war in Gaza. How do you view that movement and how do reach these voters who maybe are disillusioned with the Democratic Party?
I’m going to be campaigning in the way that I always have, meeting people where they are at, the grassroots way, in our communities all across our state. Going to the small businesses, go into the coffee shops, shaking hands. It helps to be an extrovert, right?
I’ll also say this, as it pertains to the war, it needs to end. And I think we can all agree that it needs to come to an end. We need to see the hostages return home. We still have one American being held hostage. Hamas needs to surrender. The people of Israel and the people of Palestine deserve to live in peace.
Is there anything else you’d like to point out or any other thing that you think is important to say about your campaign?
People are really proud to be from Michigan, and every day I’m here in the United States capital on behalf of the people of Michigan’s 11th District, I am bragging. I am bragging about the place that we call home. I am bragging that we have the most number of FIRST robotics teams. I am bragging that places like Grand Rapids, Michigan, are growing and that Flint is besting expectations and that we’ve got leaders who are really delivering for Michigan.
I’m so proud to be one of those leaders. So, you know, it’s a frustrating time with the chaos coming down from Donald Trump and Elon Musk, but nothing’s gonna stop Michigan. Nothing gets in the way of our great determination and resilience.
The post Exclusive: Haley Stevens on Fighting Against Trump’s ‘Chaos’ for Michigan appeared first on Newsweek.
