Fact check: Where does Barack Obama stand on Michigan’s Senate race?

TV ads supporting Haley Stevens show former President Barack Obama praising her
One catch: The clip is from 2018
Her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, calls it a ‘fake Obama endorsement’

Voters across Michigan are seeing a familiar face in their mailboxes and on TV screens: former President Barack Obama, whose past praise of Democratic US Senate candidate Haley Stevens is featured in ads funded by outside groups.

“Haley Stevens…She was a critical part of my team that helped the American auto industry come roaring back,” Obama states in the clip.

Obama did say that — but in 2018.

He hasn’t endorsed in the race between Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, but former Obama adviser David Axelrod noted in a June social media post that “if you live there and saw the ad … you’d THINK he had!”

Outside groups are prohibited from collaborating with candidates, meaning Stevens and her campaign aren’t involved in making or distributing the ads flooding Michigan’s biggest media markets as she and Abdul El-Sayed face off in one of the most competitive Senate primaries in the country.

Related:

When asked about the ads by Bridge Michigan, Stevens’ campaign called them an “accurate representation” of how Obama viewed her work as chief of staff to his administration’s auto task force, the group that navigated federal bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors.

“It is for viewers to decide if that praise of her work is reason enough to vote for her,” spokesperson Joetta Appiah told Bridge Michigan, noting neither Stevens herself nor the outside ads have claimed Obama is supporting her current bid for US Senate.

El-Sayed this week characterized the ads as a “fake Obama endorsement.”

The facts

The Obama clip is from an October 2018 rally in Detroit, where he encouraged Michigan voters to turn out for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Obama endorsed Stevens in 2018 and again in 2020 along with dozens of Democrats before the general elections. He hasn’t historically weighed in on contested state-level primaries. His only public US Senate endorsement this year has been in support of Texas Democrat James Talarico.

Stevens previously featured the same clip in a 2025 video announcing her US Senate bid and in a 2022 House primary campaign ad. Though she’s touted her resume working for the Obama administration this year, she’s never claimed he endorsed her US Senate campaign.

“Look, I was the person from Michigan on the team working on President Obama’s auto rescue,” Stevens said during a July 7 debate in Grand Rapids. “I have a proven track record that I am proud of fighting for this state.”

Detroit City Council member Denzel McCampbell called the ads featuring Obama “deceptive” in a recent social media post.

“There are monied and corporate interests that are going all in trying to pit Black folks against our best interests,” he wrote on X. “It’s yet another reason to get money out of politics and for robust investment into civic education.”

Using past clips of popular politicians— even when they haven’t endorsed a candidate — is common, though controversial.

Obama’s past comments were similarly used in a 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign ad and, more recently, in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.

An ad in a separate congressional race in Colorado features a clip from Pope Leo XIV, who is required to maintain political neutrality under rules set by the Catholic Church.

Republican candidates frequently reference President Donald Trump in advertisements, though he has been more diligent about demanding that candidates he hasn’t endorsed stop using his likeness.

Who’s paying?

The two political action committees spending millions of dollars on pro-Stevens ads have both featured her auto background and Obama’s past praise in TV ads or political mailers.

The top spender in the race so far is United Democracy Project, a political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The group this month reported spending nearly $15 million on the race to date, including $9.3 million to support Stevens and $5.7 million to oppose El-Sayed, who has been critical of the Israeli government and corporate political spending.

A separate political action committee, A Stronger Michigan, reported spending slightly more than $12 million so far in support of Stevens’ campaign.

The nonprofit watchdog Sludge connected that group to Jefferies Murray, a corporate lobbyist whose firm represents Facebook parent company Meta and other high-profile clients.

As of Friday, over $41 million in outside spending has been spent in Michigan’s Senate race, federal disclosures show.

Of that, $10.7 million has supported Republican Mike Rogers, $2.3 benefited El-Sayed and $28 million either supported Stevens or attacked El-Sayed.

UAW complaints

The old Obama clip isn’t the only part of the PAC-funded, pro-Stevens ads observers have called into question.

On Monday, the United Auto Workers union — which endorsed El-Sayed in June — issued a cease-and-desist order to the political action committee A Stronger Michigan, arguing one of its ads improperly displays its wheel logo in pro-Stevens ads.

A screenshot of an ad. — The United Auto Workers Union claims an ad funded by the A Stronger Michigan PAC improperly uses their logo. The logo is in the background of a vintage video clip featured as part of an auto montage. (AdImpact screenshot)

“This is yet another example of why we need dark money corporate PACs out of our politics,” the union wrote in a statement, calling the ads “a deliberate attempt at misleading voters in Michigan.”

Blink and you might miss the UAW logo’s appearance in the ad in question, which similarly highlights Stevens’ auto background and connection to the Obama administration.

The ad begins with a brief montage of auto-related clips, including a clip of the 1994 rollout of the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique at the company’s Kansas City plant in Missouri. The vehicle in the clip drives through a banner featuring the logos of both Ford and UAW. Neither the union nor its endorsement decision is otherwise mentioned in the ad.