Haley Stevens with Brenda Carter, Joe Tate, Michael Howard and Tyrone Carter. Photo: Samuel Robinson
The battle for the city of Detroit’s votes in the 2026 Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate is being staked out early by U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham.
The Congresswoman held a campaign event with supporters from Michigan’s Legislative Black Caucus at Fixins in the city’s historic Paradise Valley neighborhood downtown.
Before the event, she explained her vote to approve a resolution honoring the life of controversial activist Charlie Kirk in an interview with Michigan Chronicle.
“His stuff was odious. I mean, the man spouted racism, sexism, hatred,” Stevens said. “I have voted consistently every chance I’ve got in the Congress to say when someone’s murdered and they’re putting up a thing on the floor, nonviolence. There was a vote in the Senate that will likely make its way to the House. I believe it will. I am not voting for a day of remembrance, but I voted similar to how I did with (Melissa) Hortman, and you could see there was a lot of division. You know, we were really working hard to be united around the budget, and that was something that I think folks were split on. I’m not endorsing anything close to what that guy says — anything.”
On stage during his remarks, Steven’s congressional colleague and supporter, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, acknowledged that he had voted against the resolution honoring Kirk because he could not in good faith vote for the resolution given he represents the largest African American city in the country.
“He was racist… And by representing the largest Black city in America, I could not in good faith honor this man,” Thanedar said. “Even though I care and I feel empathy for his children and his wife.”
When asked about her efforts to court Detroit voters, Stevens said she’s got the receipts to prove she’s the best candidate to represent local residents in the U.S. Senate.
“I have represented 1.5 million people in Southeast Michigan, parts of Western Wayne County, flipped a seat on liberal Democratic values, and I’m rolling up my sleeves to be Michigan’s next United States Senator, because I want to meet people where they’re at, I want to show them the fire I want to bring to this job, the representation I want to bring to this state,” Stevens told Michigan Chronicle in an interview downtown Detroit Saturday.
Stevens’ primary opponents include former Wayne County Health director Abdul El-Sayed and State sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, who represents part of Detroit as part of her senate seat. McMorrow defeated former State sen. Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, in a primary after an independent redistricting commission changed the state’s district maps.
Bullock and other Black lawmakers criticized the district boundary changes for minimizing the number of Black-majority districts. But the new maps led to the Democratic Party winning control of the state House and Senate in 2022, before House Republicans won it back last November.
While Stevens has backed House Democratic leadership, McMorrow and El-Sayed have suggested its time for the Democratic Party to usher in new leaders in Congress.
Stevens’ campaign has so far focused its messaging toward a potential Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who she could face if both advance past their party primaries.
On Saturday, Stevens said the president is enacting reckless tariffs and doing billionaire giveaways on tax cuts, “and rising prices on everybody else.”
“Right now, you’re seeing my leadership in the Congress focused on health care costs,” Stevens said. “For people right now, it is honestly just this frustration of, like, ‘What’s going on in my pocketbook?'”
Stevens thanked attendees on stage, including Pontiac representative Brenda Carter, Lathrup Village mayor Kelly Garrett, Saginaw rep. Amos O’Neil, Detroit rep. Tyrone Carter, Madison Heights councilman Quinn Wright, Macomb County commissioner Michael Howard and Detroit fire chief James Harris, an at-large candidate for Detroit City Council.
“My dad was born here in Detroit,” Stevens said. “He started a small business with my mom when they were in college — it was a landscaping business… Because we all know you gotta work hard to earn a living, he was also sometimes a school teacher.”
Stevens said it was her parents who instilled in her a sense of work ethic that led her to work for President Barack Obama’s administration to help with the auto industry bailout.
“What was going on on Wall Street was causing so many problems, and yet, General Motors and Chrysler were going to go bankrupt, and with that, we were going to lose hundreds of thousands of Michigan jobs,” Stevens said. “We made it through the time that called for Detroit’s grit, resilience and determination.”
Stevens compared the effects of the Trump administration’s tariff policy to the the auto industry collapse after the 2008 financial crisis, saying that what’s going on today is “a man-made crisis.”
“It’s not a great recession, it’s a billionaire with a chainsaw.”
Stevens pointed to rising health care costs and the $1.3 trillion in credit card debt, saying America is in an affordability crisis.
“We need a tax code that works for us, not the five billionaires in this country”
Former House Speaker, State rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, who endorsed Stevens shortly after backing out of his own U.S. Senate campaign, suggested at Fixins Saturday Stevens is the candidate that best represents the interests of Black voters.
“We need people that are going to fight, but we also need people that are going to be a part of the team and are going to look out for our best interest,” Tate said. “The person in this race who is going to be able to do that is Haley Stevens.”
Tate said Black Americans are watching their rights being taken away.
“We’re seeing not only those opportunities that have been a part of our government institution to help the Black community, and we’re actually seeing our history erased,” Tate said. “Everyone from Medgar Evars to slavery, that there’s some sort of revisionist history… Who are going to be the one’s who are going to be able to push back and say, no, this is not right?”
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