Washington ― U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens bears no sour grapes after losing last week’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary to Abdul El-Sayed, saying a week later that she holds no grudge, congratulates her rival and plans to campaign with him this fall ― “whatever anybody in the party needs me to do.”
“I think this has, for some reason, gotten to be a little bit of a refreshing thing,” Stevens told The Detroit News of her decision to concede and endorse El-Sayed after the race was called last Wednesday.
“But I’ve been knocking doors as a Democrat in Michigan since I was 18 years old, so I am just really happy to be on the team. … In our country’s 250th year, democracy is certainly alive and well here in the state that we love and cherish.”
Stevens, a four-term congresswoman from Birmingham, left open the possibility of a future run for office in a Tuesday interview, while admitting she hadn’t really thought about her future beyond her current term in Congress ending Jan. 2.
“Well, look, I am a big believer in putting up your hand to run out of a moment. You know, identifying a need,” Stevens said.
“I haven’t ruled something out, but I don’t even know what that would be, you know,” she added. “So I’ll be out there, and I’m always happy to help people if I can.”
El-Sayed, a former public health official from Ann Arbor, narrowly defeated Stevens in last week’s primary by about 1 percentage point or about 14,400 votes ― far from the double-digit blowout forecasted in polls in the contest’s final days.
The primary race featured a record $70 million in outside spending ― mostly to Stevens’ benefit ― which is more outside money spent than any other Senate primary contest tracked by the campaign finance website OpenSecrets.
Stevens suggested Tuesday that she would lend her campaign expertise to Democratic U.S. hopefuls in Michigan, while U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Holly Democrat, takes on a “big role” in helping El-Sayed campaign defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former seven-term congressman from White Lake Township. Slotkin beat Rogers in 2024 by about 19,000 votes.
“She’s working really closely with Chuck Schumer and the others in the Senate to get Abdul … that win, so I’ll leave that to the Senate crew,” Stevens said.
Michigan’s Senate seat is up for grabs because U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, opted against seeking reelection to another six-year term. A loss in Michigan could hurt Democrats’ push to try to win back control of the Senate from Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority.
Rogers last week called it a “change election,” referring to how Republicans haven’t won a U.S. Senate election in Michigan in 32 years.
“They all want to convince you this is about Donald Trump,” Rogers told a crowd of hundreds at the Andiamo restaurant in Warren last week. “This is a change election for Michigan. This is our chance to change it up.”
The Senate race is about “the heart and soul of our country,” Rogers added, describing El-Sayed as an “anti-American” candidate.
Stevens on Tuesday largely declined to engage in a postmortem analysis of what went wrong in her campaign against El-Sayed, which was particularly nasty in the last month after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak dropped out on July 5. Stevens said the primary was “litigated” and is over.
“I’m not really getting into all that. You know, I mean, there’s probably plenty of pundits who have a lot of thoughts. I think a lot of things went great,” Stevens said.
“This was my first statewide run. You know, I was juggling it while working in the House, and I did more than I ever thought I could to stand up to this administration, to stand up for Michigan. … I mean, it was a close race. I think that was a big triumph.”
Asked what advice she’d give El-Sayed to improve his campaign, she said she hadn’t discussed that with him; however, the pro-Israel Stevens pointed to left-wing streamer Hassan Piker, who has faced accusations of antisemitism.
Piker, who appeared with El-Sayed on the campaign trail, has called the militant group Hamas better than Israel and once questioned whether the U.S. “deserved” the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“I didn’t know much about this YouTube guy, Twitch streamer Piker? I didn’t like the things he was saying,” Stevens said. “I don’t know why he came to Michigan. But, you know, look guys, the primary’s over. … Haley Stevens for Senate is over. And that’s it.”
Rogers has attacked Piker for the last week, associating El-Sayed with the streamer’s most controversial remarks. Asked why she didn’t go after Piker more, Stevens said that she did.
“I made it very clear,” she said.
Several prominent Jewish Democrats in Michigan have suggested in press interviews that they can’t support El-Sayed because of his opposition to military aid for Israel or his response to antisemitism. Rogers is also trying to sway those Democrats to support him.
Asked if she’d do outreach in the Jewish community on behalf of El-Sayed, Stevens, a self-described “passionate” Zionist, suggested she would not, noting those decisions in a voting booth are personal and private.
“I don’t want to step on his toes, OK? The guy has heard from me over and over and over again, all right? I mean, we were on debate stages and forums and popping all over town. And those decisions that he makes on outreach, those are his to make,” Stevens said.
“People are going to make a personal, private decision, and that needs to be respected. You know who I am, where my values are. That hasn’t changed.”
Asked about her decision to accept donations from corporation-linked groups including DTE Energy ― which proved unpopular with many Democrats at the polls ― Stevens said she has no regrets. “Look, I’m going to play within the rules,” she said, pointing out she also did grassroots fundraising.
“We need to change the system, and that is something Abdul and I talked about. I said: ‘Abdul, the system.’ … What Abdul’s doing is, he’s putting up his hand to go within the system to try and make change, and I don’t think we’re hearing that from Mike Rogers,” Stevens said.
“I’m no longer a candidate, but I don’t have any regrets about how I, you know, operated within the system that was afforded me to get my ideas out there and campaign.”
Stevens said she intends to campaign with congressional hopefuls in competitive Michigan U.S. House districts, including with former prosecutor Christina Hines of Warren, who is facing GOP newcomer Mike Bouchard of Rochester Hills in the 10th District, which is open as U.S. Rep. John James runs for governor.
She also flagged the race of state Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, whom she said has a chance at beating longtime GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga of Holland, as well as incumbent Democratic Reps. Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids and Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City.
One Democrat in a key district where Stevens didn’t mention plans to help was progressive Will Lawrence of Lansing in his bid to unseat first-term Rep. Tom Barrett of Charlotte. Lawrence and El-Sayed cross-endorsed one another last month.
“My expertise has really been in these House races and winning tough House races,” she said. “I feel very strongly about making Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker of the House ― the first Black Speaker of the House ― from a place called Michigan.”
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Stevens reflects on Senate loss to El-Sayed, what’s next in her career
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
