Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters has endorsed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary to replace him next year.
The endorsement on Monday, July 13, comes three weeks before the primary with Stevens in a tight race with former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor for the nomination.
The winner will face Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake, who is unopposed in the Republican primary and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
"I am all in for Haley Stevens," said Peters, who is stepping down following two six-year terms in the Senate. In 2020, Peters won reelection by less than 2 percentage points to Republican John James, who went on to win a U.S. House seat and is running for Michigan governor this year
Peters, of Bloomfield Township, formerly represented much of the same area that Stevens now does when he was in the U.S. House prior to redistricting after the 2010 Census and his running for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2014.
That said, it is somewhat atypical for sitting Democratic U.S. senators and other top Party officeholders in Michigan to endorse in close nomination races in the state.
As I have written here, I’m all in for El -Sayed (donating and volunteering) and I think the race is a toss-up, but it IS unusual for the Democratic establishment to go so hard against a Democrat so I bet they have some internals that show Stevens struggling.
Stevens is aligned with the furthest Right 25% in the Democratic base on foreign policy and ICE so no more “representative” of Democrats than El -Sayed, who is aligned with the furthest Left 25% of the Democratic base on foreign policy and ICE, but there is a preference among establishment, incumbent Democrats for the Right side of the Party over the Left, so Stevens gets the blessing of Schumer and Peters.
Still, I wouldn’t have had Peters endorse if I were Team Stevens. I think it’s a bad look for the incumbent to be seen as choosing his replacement. She’s got the support of leadership, 30X as much money as El-Sayed and plenty of corporate PACS lined up. She should be able to pull this off without alienating every Arab American and Left wing voter in Michigan with the barrage of negative ads her various PACS are running sliming El-Sayed. There’s a particularly nasty dog whistle ad that goes “Who IS El-Sayed?” which is basically “be very afraid of the brown Muslim”. Gross.
The two biggest differences between Stevens and El-Sayed is on Stevens’ blank check support for the wars in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon and her reluctance to oppose ICE. Even Rahm Emmanuel, a huge Israel supporter and Right wing Democrat will no longer give a Israel a blank check to establish a Greater Israel. Surely at this point it’s not too risky for Stevens to take a stand:
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, reportedly positioning himself for a presidential run spoke at Tel Aviv University over the weekend, delivering a strong speech declaring that the US-Israel alliance is at a crossroads.
Emanuel presents himself as a longtime supporter of Israel, arguing that the U.S. can no longer unconditionally support Israel and the relationship now requires conditions, demands and consequences.
"The prime minister and his government have led Israel into a dead end," he said. "The United States cannot continue to finance and support that cynicism in silence.
"Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank and pursue the fantasies of a Greater Israel."
The much-maligned and censored pro Palestinian students actually moved US opinion on Israel, a wildly successful protest movement by any measure. Opinions have changed in response to events but Haley Stevens has not moved at all in response to events. She’s inexplicably standing firm in support of a far Right government that so disrespects the Congress she serves in they detained one of her colleagues yesterday.
If Stevens wins the primary, both she and her GOP opponent will be taking contributions from lobbyists for ICE and AIPAC, the lobby of the far Right Israeli government. That ensures that the US continues funding the US/Israeli war(s) in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank and the huge piles of taxpayer cash keep flowing to ICE, a bloated, completely out of control paramilitary force that has now murdered four people in cold blood with no consequences at all.
Stevens would have been be a great candidate in 2006. In 2026 she represents retaining the status quo and the status quo won’t be good enough.
