• Less than three months out, many influential unions haven’t endorsed in Michigan’s heavily contested US Senate Democratic primary
• Haley Stevens, Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed have all voiced support for the labor movement, courted endorsements
• Union influence has waned some in recent years, and members have bucked party leadership in some races

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Michigan’s labor movement has long played an outsize role in shaping Democratic politics, with backing from key union groups among candidates’ most coveted endorsements. 

But with less than three months left before Michigan’s marquee 2026 Democratic primary — the three-way US Senate battle pundits say could shape the future of the party — union workers may be just as divided as everyone else.

Many of the state’s most influential unions haven’t yet backed a candidate in the Democratic race, where US Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed are locked in a tight race.

Politicians must “earn” the right “to have our endorsements now,” United Auto Workers Region 1 Director LaShawn English said earlier this year during a forum in which all three Democrats took member questions on issues like worker benefits and wages, artificial intelligence regulation and preserving union manufacturing jobs.

“If we don’t fight, we will continue to see workers get trampled on, we will continue to see rights be disregarded, violated, attacked,” English said.

While the powerful union hasn’t formally weighed in on the race yet, UAW officials said in February that electing a candidate prepared to go to bat for workers’ rights is of utmost importance in 2026 as well-paying union jobs and labor protections come under threat.  

In at least one instance, different branches of the same union have already reached different conclusions on who the best person for the job would be. 

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation (SMART) Workers Transportation Division endorsed McMorrow because “she has consistently stood with railroad workers and supported our priorities.” Meanwhile, SMART’s Local 292 chapter in metro Detroit picked Stevens, citing her support in Congress for union jobs, workforce training and fair wages and benefits.

“I think it would be a mistake to view the labor movement as monolithic,” said pollster Richard Czuba, whose recent poll for the Detroit Regional Chamber found nearly 40% of union-affiliated likely Democratic voters remain undecided.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost a 2024 US Senate bid and is facing little competition in the GOP primary. He was invited but did not participate in the UAW forum, which union members repeatedly noted at the event. 

Union endorsements don’t guarantee victory or unequivocal support from rank-and-file members. 

Republican President Donald Trump has directly appealed to the working class when unions endorsed his Democratic opponents. More recently, Michigan attorney general candidate Karen McDonald lost the Democratic nomination to Eli Savit at last month’s party convention despite picking up endorsements from nearly every major statewide union.

Michigan’s Democratic US Senate candidates are courting union voters and touting their support for the labor movement. But in a divisive statewide primary expected to come down to the wire, it’s unlikely any candidate can count on support from a fully united union voting bloc, observers told Bridge Michigan.

‘Meeting the moment’

While all three Democrats have picked up some labor endorsements, Stevens has leaned most heavily into the union vote, eschewing the large rallies and public Q&A sessions preferred by her opponents in favor of private meet-and-greets and tours of union shops. 

Her campaign estimates she’s visited roughly 200 manufacturing businesses across the state. She has endorsements from 11 Michigan unions so far, including Teamsters Local 243, whose president Scott Quenneville said in a statement that Stevens doesn’t just talk when it comes to Michigan workers — “she shows up and gets results.”  

During one April stop at the CRH Asphalt plant in Wixom, Stevens donned a hard hat and construction vest to sift through aggregates in the facility’s lab, climb into heavy machinery and speak to employees about how their work helps build Michigan roads and infrastructure. 

“It begins with the rocks!” she joked with one employee as he demonstrated how the company’s material is tested. 

The plant is staffed by workers from Operating Engineers Local 324, which later endorsed Stevens. William Miller, the union’s political director, said she has a “proven track record” of protecting Michigan’s manufacturing industry and supporting “policies that grow Michigan’s economy.” 

The fourth-term Birmingham Democrat, who has deep connections in the automotive industry and served in the Obama administration as chief of staff to the US Auto Rescue Task Force, said her campaign’s heavy focus on meeting workers where they’re at is by design. 

“I want to make sure that they know that I’m listening to them,” she said, later adding, “I’m going to keep showing up on job sites, keep meeting the moment for hardworking people who need to make sure and need to know that someone like me has their back in the halls of Congress.” 

On the campaign trail, Stevens has criticized her opponents’ manufacturing stances, arguing that El-Sayed’s past tweets in support of the Green New Deal insinuated that Michigan manufacturing is a “dying industry” and that McMorrow’s push for a more diversified economy is “out of touch with what our state is all about.”

Czuba, the pollster, said Stevens does “extremely well” with skilled trades and manufacturing groups, but he noted wide differences remain between different elements of the trade movement. Teacher unions like the Michigan Education Association could become an important player in the race if they choose to endorse, he said. 

His latest poll found 26% of union-affiliated respondents support Stevens, with El-Sayed close behind at 23.7% and McMorrow at 10.7%. Still, everything could change once candidates begin airing television ads in earnest, Czuba said, calling the current state of the race “campaign purgatory.” 

The progressive pitch

El-Sayed, a former public health official widely considered the most progressive candidate in the race, has frequently highlighted his history as a union member on the campaign trail and believes his message of removing corporate influence on politics appeals to the labor movement.

“They want somebody who’s unabashed about the role that management has played in crushing all of their movements,” El-Sayed said of union workers. “I’ve already told folks I’m on the side of working people.” 

On the campaign trail, he’s argued every worker deserves the right to join a union and earn a fair wage. His policy platforms include investing in research and technology to build more economic opportunity in Michigan, as well as further regulation of artificial intelligence to protect workers from losing work to automated systems.  

During a recent rally with US Sen. Bernie Sanders in Detroit, the campaign invited several local union leaders to speak, including Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, Teamsters Local 332 President Dan Glass and National Nurses United President Jamie Brown.

In her address to the crowd, Wilson-Lumpkins said teachers work around the clock planning, sacrificing, supporting their students and fighting against cuts to public education. 

“There is a coordinated attack, not only on public education, but on the middle class and the essential services that we provide,” she said, adding that candidates like El-Sayed “understand the struggle of workers against the billionaire class.” 

Carolyn Clemons, a nurse and Teamsters Local 332 member involved in a months-long strike at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc Township, told Bridge she’s supporting El-Sayed because “he’s been on the line with us” and she believes his commitment to protecting politics from corporate influence will ultimately save lives. 

“America is falling slowly but surely by the wayside,” she said. “My kids, my grandkids … are going to have to try to rebuild slowly after this. Abdul is going to be the first person that we need to get in there that is able to help us get started in the right direction.” 

El-Sayed’s messaging went over well at the recent Democratic state convention, where he received a standing ovation from a crowd that swelled with progressive activists.  

Labor commentator Jake Altman, who recently opined on the convention’s shift left, said cultural fissures between different types of workers in the labor movement are on full display this election cycle. Whether unity under the Democratic Party umbrella is possible remains to be seen, he said.

“It’s a fractious house right now,” he said, adding the progressive agenda pushed by some union groups “may or may not gel well with what more traditional unions and their members are advocating.” 

On the picket line

Outside of Corewell Health’s Troy hospital campus Thursday, McMorrow joined members of Teamsters Local 2024, who were picketing ahead of a potential strike as nurses advocate for increased wages, safer working conditions and more affordable health insurance. 

McMorrow said the labor movement is personal to her: her grandfather was a Teamster, and she said the wages and benefits he received allowed him to retire in his 50s and changed her family’s trajectory. That type of job is far harder to come by these days, she said. 

“This is a moment where income inequality is greater than it’s ever been, and in my mind, this is the opportunity for a labor revolution,” she said. “We should see unionization in tech jobs, in white-collar jobs. It is time for it, because people are getting crushed.”

In the state Senate, McMorrow successfully co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Republican-backed “Right to Work” law that prohibited compulsory union dues or fees, as well as a restoration of prevailing wage rules requiring contractors to pay union-level wages on state projects. 

The Right to Work law was passed in 2012 when Republicans controlled the Michigan Legislature and the governor’s office. Unions blamed the law for an overall drop in union membership and complained that colleagues who didn’t pay dues were still able to benefit from union bargaining.

Lori Blakely, a former teacher who is now a recovery nurse in the Corewell Health system, said she was impressed by McMorrow’s work to repeal the law and appreciates that she’s been active across the labor movement spectrum in Michigan. 

“I see her as the most well-rounded, the most effective in getting things done,” she said.  

In addition to her pro-labor positions, UA Local 370 Business Manager Dan Gaudet, whose Flint-area union unanimously endorsed McMorrow, said they appreciated McMorrow’s approachability and willingness to sit down with them to take questions. 

“She’s just a normal person…somebody you’d want to hang out with,” he said. 

If elected, McMorrow said she’d continue to support pro-worker legislation in Washington, but also vowed to keep showing up on the front lines of the labor movement. 

“That’s the power that you have in these offices, is to use your platform to get the public behind you, because public perception is what moves policy, ultimately,” she said. 

High stakes for workers 

As the Democratic candidates hash out their differences in an increasingly contentious primary, some labor leaders are already focusing their attention on what’s next. 

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face the GOP nominee in the November general election for the open Senate seat. That will most likely be Rogers, a former member of Congress who only narrowly lost his 2024 US Senate bid to Democrat Elissa Slotkin.

Rogers, too, has been making appeals to workers, launching a “Let’s Get to Work!” series highlighting various industries around the state. 

Rogers has argued that Democratic representation has contributed to higher costs of living and inflation. If elected, he’s vowed to protect tax cuts passed in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

“That’s why we’re on the road, listening to and learning about the challenges facing Michigan families and workers all across the state,” Rogers said in announcing the job site visit initiative. “Michigan deserves real leaders who will keep more money in families’ pockets.”

The Michigan AFL-CIO, a federation representing more than a million union members across the state, hasn’t endorsed in the Democratic US Senate primary, instead deferring to its affiliates, a spokesperson told Bridge.  

But Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber was quick to criticize Rogers’ track record on the union’s legislative priorities while serving in Congress, arguing that workers need a senator willing to take action to address rising costs of living. 

“In every race, from United States Senate to dogcatcher, we put our weight behind candidates that will put workers first,” Bieber said.

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