The former Obama campaign staff member is the highest-ranking official to announce their candidacy in the 2026 contest, which is expected to be competitive.
WASHINGTON — Rep. Haley Maria Stevens (D-Mich.) on April 22 announced that she was running for the U.S. Senate in 2026.
Stevens, a former political activist and staff member for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, was first elected to Congress in 2018. She represents the 11th Congressional District of Michigan, which covers Oakland County and suburban areas north of Detroit.
In a social media post, Stevens announced she was entering the Democratic primary election for the seat currently held by senior Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who will retire at the end of the 119th Congress after two terms.
“When the Great Recession hit and Michigan’s car industry faced extinction, I wanted to step up and do something for my state,” Stevens said in a video that emphasized her Michigan accent and her first car, which she said was produced by the state’s automobile industry.
“We’re all feeling the hit of higher prices. The same groceries cost more each month. Housing is more expensive than ever. …It would be my honor to fight for you in the Senate.”
Stevens is entering a highly competitive election in the battleground state, which has often voted for the winner in U.S. presidential elections. In 2016 and 2024, Michigan voted for President Donald Trump. In 2020, the state was a critical part of Joe Biden’s win that year over Trump.
The Democratic primary field already includes state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, a public health specialist and community organizer from Michigan’s large Arab American community.
El-Sayed placed second in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary in Michigan, which was won by now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has declined to be a candidate in the upcoming race. El-Sayed has already been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a prominent progressive leader in national politics.
On the Republican side, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) has announced his candidacy. Rogers ran for the U.S. Senate in the 2024 election to replace retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). He narrowly lost the race to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) by 0.34 percentage points, in a state won by Trump by a margin of 1.42 percentage points.
Stevens has made Trump a focus of her candidacy. The election will be held in 2026, a “midterm” year (i.e., in the middle of a presidential term) that, traditionally, has yielded good results for the minority party in Congress based on disapproval of the presidency.
“His chaos and reckless tariffs are putting tens of thousands of Michigan jobs at risk,” said Stevens, touching upon a sensitive subject in the state.
While Michigan has lost factories to foreign countries and competes with China in the manufacture of some vehicles, it exports many manufactured goods abroad, which makes its economy highly sensitive to tariffs.
Michigan is the U.S. state with the largest volume of trade with Canada, on which Trump has imposed significant tariffs. The president has defended the tariffs as necessary to restore manufacturing in the United States, particularly in Michigan.
Stevens’s decision to run for the Senate means she will likely retire from her House seat, leading to an open primary. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of D+9, making it likely to be retained by Democrats. It is not listed as a battleground race.
The campaigns of Stevens, McMorrow, and El-Sayed did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.