The leading Democratic candidates in Michigan’s critical Senate race all pitched themselves as strong union allies during a forum Wednesday at a United Auto Workers conference in Washington.
Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County public health official, each said they would champion workers rights and manufacturing if elected to the Senate in what’s expected to be one of the most closely watched races this year.
Support from autoworkers could be crucial in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Senate Democrats need to net four seats to win control of the chamber, and defending Peters’ seat is key to that effort.
While Donald Trump carried Michigan on his way to a second White House term in 2024, Democrat Elissa Slotkin narrowly defeated former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers to win the state’s other Senate seat. Rogers is making another Senate bid this year and has largely coalesced Republican support behind him, while Democrats’ contested primary won’t be decided until August.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the Michigan race a Toss-up.
El-Sayed and McMorrow both said their campaigns were not accepting corporate PAC donations in response to a submitted question Wednesday. McMorrow reportedly has accepted corporate PAC donations in previous state campaigns.
Stevens, who’s currently serving her fourth House term, didn’t directly say whether her campaign accepted corporate PAC donations. But she called to “end Citizens United,” the landmark Supreme Court ruling that threw out limits on corporate and union independent political expenditures.
“Look, friends, I’m not a millionaire, and I don’t own stock. I’m running my campaign in a grassroots way, where 95 percent of my donations are $200 or less. They’re coming from grocery clerk workers, nurses, folks on the factory lines,” Stevens said.
Stevens has led the field in fundraising, according to Federal Election Commission filings, closing 2025 with $3.1 million on hand, while McMorrow and El-Sayed each had about $2 million available.
Stevens, a member of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, criticized Rogers and President Donald Trump during Wednesday’s forum, while touting several bills she’s proposed on Capitol Hill, such as one that would require lawmakers to purchase or lease union-assembled or American-made cars for official use, which the UAW has backed.
El-Sayed sought to draw a contrast with his top rivals on health care, noting his support for “Medicare for All.” He has emerged as the leading progressive in the race, with support from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
He said he was running to “get money out of politics, put money in your pocket and pass ‘Medicare for All.’”
McMorrow, who shot to national prominence in 2022 after speaking out against Republican attacks, highlighted her work in the state legislature, including the repeal of a “right to work” law and a bill she introduced Wednesday to prohibit companies from conducting stock buybacks if they receive taxpayer-funded incentives.
“You have three good choices on the stage,” she said in her closing remarks. “We do not have to settle for somebody who prioritizes rhetoric over results, who’s never held office, who’s never delivered for you. We don’t have to settle for somebody who’s too beholden to corporate interests to actually work alongside you.”
Organizers said they invited Rogers to the forum and left a seat for him onstage. Rogers said on X that his team first heard about the event through a UAW social media post last week, before adding that the forum “only exposed how tone-deaf my opponents and UAW national leadership really are.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said Wednesday it was running targeted banner display ads throughout the conference and argued that the Democratic candidates supported policies that could hurt the auto industry.
“Haley Stevens, Mallory McMorrow, and Abdul El-Sayed all support the radical Green New Deal policies that would slash 35,000 jobs in Detroit,” NRSC spokeswoman Samantha Cantrell said in a statement. “They are not the champions of Michigan’s auto industry they are pretending to be.”
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