The News
Rep. Haley Stevens has a simple strategy for winning Michigan’s open Senate seat: Stick to the Mitten’s business.
The centrist Democratic lawmaker earlier this year jumped into the race to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, setting up one of 2026’s most competitive primaries as the party’s hopefuls vie to help define its identity in a state that President Donald Trump won last year.
Stevens has a clear and simple strategy for addressing issues that divide her caucus — she’s blocking out what doesn’t touch her state directly.
She’s coordinating on upcoming cryptocurrency votes with Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who won her seat with the help of digital assets-backed super PACs. And she’s focusing her broader message on constituents’ concerns about how the Trump administration is handling their personal data.
Which might explain Stevens’ explanation when Semafor asked why she’s hesitated to put her weight behind Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “The people who are asking me this are not my voters, you know what I mean?”
“I’m happy to be transparent,” she added. “It’s just kind of missing the point about how serious this moment is for Michigan right now.”
The View From Haley Stevens
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Eleanor Mueller: We reported recently that some Hill Republicans are concerned about the Trump administration’s potential work to create a merged database on Americans. Do you see a bipartisan appetite for passing related legislation, like your bill to restrict DOGE’s access to Social Security data?
Haley Stevens: I’m optimistic, because we have to be. We did put it for a discharge petition. I know a good majority, if not all, of our Democrats have signed on to it. And we have been trying to work on colleagues on the other side of the aisle. People started reaching out, saying to me back home in Michigan, “Hey, I’m conservative. I’m someone who voted for Donald Trump, and heck, even still support him, but I don’t support Elon Musk having access to private taxpayer information.’”
As someone who worked in the Treasury Department during the Great Recession, we never heard of anyone going to the Bureau of Fiscal Services to access information like that. That’s, frankly, something that I am campaigning on, but also want to get done as a United States Senator.
Speaking of your Senate campaign, how are you thinking about the involvement of AIPAC and other Israel-focused groups? Is their voice something you would welcome in this primary?
I’m just going to continue to be very clear with voters about where I stand on this issue, which is that we need to see a lasting ceasefire. The hostages need to come home. Hamas needs to surrender, and we just need to achieve lasting peace. But people are really, every day, talking to me about costs. And it is alarming how scared people are about their Social Security; obviously their Medicaid; and these erratic, shoot-by-the hip tariffs.
One of the Republicans in this race, Mike Rogers, was just backed by a crypto super PAC. How are you thinking about digital assets legislation that could be up for a vote in the coming weeks?
This is one where I, again, am really focused on listening to constituents. I do get a fair amount of outreach on both sides — but more so people who are wanting to see certainty. We don’t have that in a lot of spaces right now, particularly with the cuts to Medicaid and the erratic tariffs.
Would you vote for the stablecoin bill that the Senate just voted to advance?
I haven’t had a chance to review that yet, to be honest with you. But I was talking to Slotkin on one of the bills, and she was like, “We really worked it and feel really good about where it is.” And my thing is that I want to be consistent with where I’ve been in the past.
You’ve stopped short in the past of saying that you would support Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader. Can you explain what that hesitation is based on?
It’s more not putting the cart before the horse. I’m trying to win a Senate race in Michigan, and it’s about Michiganders. They don’t need me talking about inside baseball. They need me showing what I’m actually going to do for our state.
There’s a story to tell out of our state, and it’s not just that the Tigers are doing well — it’s that we’ve got an incredible growth happening, and we’ve got a tax bill that is going to dramatically cut some of those manufacturing investments.
With the limited time I get with people, that’s what I need to be talking to them about. So that’s a decision I’m just going to make when I get there.
The people who are asking me this are not my voters, you know what I mean? I’m happy to be transparent, it’s just kind of missing the point about how serious this moment is for Michigan right now.
That auto rescue and the Great Recession that we lived through 15, 16 years ago, these conversations remind me of some of the things that I was hearing from people back then — worried about their jobs, worried about their small business, worried about costs going up.