- US Rep. Haley Stevens is running for Michigan’s open US Senate seat in one of the hottest races nationally
- As part of the fight, primary opponent Abdul El-Sayed and others have made several claims about Stevens and her voting history
- Bridge Michigan has spent months following the race and fact checking each and every claim. Here’s the facts.
US Rep. Haley Stevens is running to be Michigan’s next US senator, and in the state’s hotly contested Democratic primary, much has been said about where she stands on immigration, endorsements and money in politics.
Bridge Michigan has kept track of the claims and checked facts as part of a months-long effort to provide voters the information they need ahead of the Aug. 4 Democratic primary that pits Stevens against Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official.
The race is seen nationally as a litmus test about the future of the Democratic Party. The winner faces former US Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, who does not have a challenger, in the general election to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat.
Let’s get into it.
Claim #1: Did Stevens vote to ‘fund and thank’ ICE?
Yes, she did.
But there’s nuance to the claim made both by El-Sayed personally, and in a 15-second campaign video released this month.
Stevens was one of 75 Democrats to support a June 9, 2025, House resolution that — while condemning an antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado — expressed “gratitude” to law enforcement including ICE for “protecting the homeland.”
Related:
- Gretchen Whitmer endorses Haley Stevens: She’ll ‘get things done’ for Michigan
- Pro-Haley Stevens groups erase Abdul El-Sayed fundraising edge in Michigan Senate race
- Outside spending floods Michigan’s US Senate race — most for Haley Stevens
She was also one of 185 House Democrats to vote “yes” on House Resolution 1102 of 2024 — a $1.2 trillion funding package that avoided a partial government shutdown by funding several agencies through the end of the fiscal year, including the Department of Homeland Security.
But ICE was just one piece of those broad measures, one of which condemned a terrorist attack and another of which staved off a partial government shutdown, details El-Sayed’s campaign video failed to mention.
For more, click here.
Claim #2: Did former President Barack Obama endorse Stevens?
Not in this race, although viewers may be left with a different impression.
Obama endorsed Stevens in 2018 and again in 2020. And at a 2018 rally in Detroit, he praised Stevens as being “a critical part of my team that helped the American auto industry come roaring back.”
Pro-Stevens ads running this year show that 8-year-old clip, causing El-Sayed to call it a “fake Obama endorsement” in this year’s race and others to call them “deceptive”.
So who’s behind the ads? 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, more commonly known as AIPAC.
For more, click here.
Claim #3: Is Stevens the only ‘non-millionaire’ in the US Senate race?
Maybe, but not definitively.
Stevens has filed paperwork showing her net worth at no more than $376,998. The Republican Rogers is definitely a millionaire, worth at least $7 million and perhaps more than $14 million, according to a federal disclosure report filed July 6.
It’s not completely clear whether El-Sayed is a millionaire, with a 2025 disclosure showing he and his spouse are worth between $586,022 and $1.6 million.
El-Sayed reported three major assets — a rental property in Ann Arbor, another in Bangalore, India, and a podcast production company — he said could be worth as little as $450,003 or as much as $1 million.
For more, click here.
Claim #4: Did Stevens save 200,000 auto jobs?
She was certainly part of a team that saved about that many, as she touts on her campaign website.
Stevens was chief of staff of the Obama administration’s auto task force, an administrative job that involved day-to-day meetings, outreach and scheduling meetings.
She was not a member or official designee of the task force that made key decisions about the government-led restructuring process. But others who were in that position praised Stevens’ work.
As for the auto jobs? The 200,000 figure comes from Center for Automotive Research studies in 2009 and 2010 that found $80 billion in loans to Chrysler and GM prevented a “worst case” scenario of a drawn-out bankruptcy that would cost Michigan 224,000 jobs.
But a 2012 analysis from the fact-checking organization Politifact notes it’s impossible to know for sure whether the industry would have fared better without the government bailouts, but that “the massive loss of jobs and the disruption to the network of auto parts suppliers did not happen.”
For more, click here.
#5: Is Stevens funded by AIPAC and big corporations?
Yes.
The war in Gaza have become a major issue in the war, with Stevens staunchly pro-Israel and El-Sayed denouncing the nation’s treatment of Palestinians, US support for the nation and its allies’ role in US politics.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies for Israel in the US, is a major supporter of Stevens. Its main political action committee, the United Democracy Project 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.
Her campaign has benefited immensely from outside groups funding advertisements painting her in a positive light, as well as from large-dollar corporate donors.
That includes accepting donations from a number of political groups representing corporations, including health care corporation Cigna, kidney dialysis services giant DaVita, BlackRock and Axon Enterprises — a weapons and technology company best known for developing Tasers and body cameras.
The national ad-tracking firm AdImpact’s latest analysis of the Democratic Senate primary found $46.1 million in ad spending and reservations as of July 1, 74% of which supports Stevens.
A separate political action committee, A Stronger Michigan, also reported spending slightly more than $12 million so far in support of Stevens’ campaign.
The nonprofit money-in-politics watchdog Sludge connected that group to Jefferies Murray, a corporate lobbyist whose firm represents Facebook parent company Meta and other high-profile clients.
Claim #6: Is DTE a major donor?
It has been, according to the most recent campaign records available.
The utility’s PAC donated $45,000 to Stevens’ House campaigns and her congressional leadership PAC, starting the year she took office in 2019. Last year, DTE’s PAC donated $2,500 to Stevens’ US House commitee, which transferred it to her Senate campaign.
The most recent records available not indicate any new donations from DTE since Stevens launched her bid for Senate.
DTE Energy, Michigan’s largest monopoly utility, is a target of public ire — much of it stemming from high rates, frequent outages and the company’s support of tax breaks for energy-hungry data centers that stand to boost its profits.
DTE’s corporate political action committee spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on donations to state and federal candidates.
El-Sayed has refused to accept donations from corporate PACs, calling the influence of money in politics a “disease” that allows corporations to “buy and sell politicians.”
“When DTE spends money to buy a Senate seat, they’re not just buying a Senate seat, they’re buying a quietude when you lose your power for five days because of a mild storm,” he said.
Stevens has accepted donations from PACs representing health insurance companies, investment firms, weapons developers and a range of other industries, but said donors have no influence over her policy stances.
Her campaign pointed out that Stevens has proposed legislation to better police utilities, introducing legislation this year to withhold federal funding from those that raise rates twice in a year.
After a debate this week, she said she’s “leading the charge to take on DTE right now.”
For more, click here.
Bridge Michigan reporters Lauren Gibbons, Simon Schuster and Kelly House contributed to this report.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under our Republication Guidelines. Questions? Email republishing@bridgemi.com
