Democrats are only now realizing they like Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) more than a week after deciding to nominate Abdul el Sayed, a former Michigan health official who ran to Stevens’s left in their primary election for the U.S. Senate.
Less than a week after el Sayed won their primary election by 1 percentage point, Stevens’s quirkiness is earning her newfound fans as polls find el Sayed behind Republican opponent former Rep. Mike Rogers.
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During their primary, Stevens was mocked for her Michigan accent and enthusiastic delivery of a since-viral “stick it to ‘em” campaign address.
Michigan Democratic political consultant and commentator Adolph Mongo, for example, told the Washington Examiner that the “only voters that didn’t buy” el Sayed’s “bulls*** were black voters.”
“He’s not going to get our support in November,” said Mongo, who is black.
Stevens did outperform el Sayed last week in Detroit by 6 points, and a Fox News poll published this week reported that el Sayed is underperforming among black voters, women, and suburban voters compared to former Vice President Kamala Harris in Michigan in her 2024 presidential campaign.
That Fox News poll also reported that Rogers has a polling advantage over el Sayed, 51% to 47%, though that edge is within the survey’s margin of error.
At the same time, Stevens is going viral again for her post-primary election interviews and campaign appearances for other Democrats, including Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Crowley, whose opponent is her colleague, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI). This time, however, she is receiving more positive reviews.
“He’s deeply conservative, and his big priority is wolves,” she told CNN this week of Tiffany. “Crowley, on the other hand, is an executive operator, and I think he’s, you know, moving and grooving to this governorship, and it’s amazing. Also, 40-year-old black man … This is cool stuff. It’s a good time to be a Democrat.”
Chamber of Progress Founder and CEO Adam Kovacevich replied to a clip of the interview, among others, quipping, “Where was this Haley Stevens during her campaign?”
That’s a sentiment reflected by several Democrats, especially those online, who criticized Stevens for coming off as awkward and robotic throughout her campaign. Her newfound charm comes amid worry that el Sayed, who has aligned himself with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), could jeopardize a critical seat for Democrats if they want to flip the Senate.
She was seen as the moderate and, perhaps, more electable choice than el Sayed, something particularly relevant given the recent polling.
Stevens also drew heat from the Democratic base for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s support of her and her endorsement by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), contributing to her negative image and amplifying the criticisms against her.
Still, some Michigan Democrats insist Stevens is the same woman off the trail as she was on the trail.
When asked about Stevens’s uptick in popularity, Macomb County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Alysa Diebolt pointed to last weekend’s unity picnic in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District and a conversation she had with an aide to Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who suspended her own primary campaign last month.
“Haley was there to introduce Christina Hines as the CD10 Dem nominee, and someone who worked with the McMorrow team said to me, ‘You know, when she’s not actively your opponent, she’s actually pretty endearing,’” Diebolt told the Washington Examiner. “So, I think we are seeing the same woman, but she has gotten a good night’s sleep.”
Democratic strategist and Michigan native Chris Meagher agreed, telling the Washington Examiner that Stevens is “the same person she was during the campaign.”
But Meagher, a former spokesman for one-time President Joe Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), added, “People are just treating her differently and responding to her differently now.”
A Michigan Republican strategist concurred, contending that, “There’s something to losing that has that effect on voters.”
“[The] candidate is less robotic because they don’t care as much, and voters who disliked them don’t care as much either since they’re no longer a threat to their preferred candidate,” the strategist told the Washington Examiner.
Dennis Lennox, another Michigan Republican strategist, was more dismissive of Stevens, adamant that the congresswoman is “weird” and el Sayed “is weirder.”
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In response to the criticism, Stevens turned the viral “stick it to ’em” clip into a campaign ad and leaned into it on the campaign trail, arguing that her critics were making fun of Michigan, too.
“Some of ’em might be the coastal elites, making fun of how I talk,” she said. “They’re making fun of Michigan. They’re thinking they’re better than us. Their jokes and their criticism only make me fight harder.”
