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2026 Election

Haley Stevens’ Supporters Are Pressuring Democrats to Pick a Side

Abdul El-Sayed is rising in primary polls, ratcheting up anxiety for establishment Democrats.

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“There’s an appetite to move past Stevens’ stumbles in the first year of her campaign and focus on the fact that she can win now,” said one senior Michigan Democratic strategist. Jose Juarez/AP

By Stephen Neukam, Alex Roarty and Igor Bobic

May 15, 2026 05:31 a.m.

Rep. Haley Stevens’ supporters are pressuring Democratic leaders to back the congresswoman in Michigan’s three-way Senate primary, arguing she’s the only option for the party to avoid nominating progressive favorite Abdul El-Sayed and meeting electoral disaster.

The push to boost Stevens over state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is showing some signs of success — even if some Democrats still hold painful memories of Stevens’ stumbling start to her campaign.

“To flip the Senate, we got to go through these swing states,” Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Stevens supporter, told NOTUS this week. “Moderates are more successful, and they’re usually the ones that are the ones that win.”