Haley Stevens | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's11th district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Dave Trott |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Haley Maria Stevens (1983-06-24)June 24, 1983 (age 42) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | American University (BA,MA) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Haley Maria Stevens[1] (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving as theU.S. representative fromMichigan's 11th congressional district since 2019. A member of theDemocratic Party, Stevens represents most of urbanizedOakland County, including many ofDetroit's northern suburbs. She is currently a candidate in the2026 U.S. Senate election in Michigan.
Stevens was born inRochester Hills, Michigan, and was first raised there before moving toBirmingham, Michigan, while in middle school.[2] She graduated fromSeaholm High School in Birmingham[3] in 2001 and went toAmerican University inWashington, D.C., from which she attained aBachelor of Arts inpolitical science andphilosophy in 2005. In 2006, she was hired by theMichigan Democratic Party as a field organizer. In 2007, she received aMaster of Arts insocial policy and philosophy from American University and began working forHillary Clinton's2008 presidential campaign. She transitioned toBarack Obama'spresidential campaign after Obama wonthe Democratic primaries.[4]
In 2009,Steven Rattner hired Stevens to join thePresidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.[5] Stevens next worked for the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute inChicago, returning to Michigan in 2017.[6]
During January and February 2017, Stevens moved back to Rochester Hills after having lived outside Michigan to run for theUnited States House of Representatives seat inMichigan's 11th congressional district in April 2017. The district had been represented by two-term RepublicanDave Trott.[7] While his spokesperson initially described Stevens as a "carpetbagger", Trott announced his retirement in September 2017, making the 11th district an open seat.[6][7] Stevens defeatedstate RepresentativeTim Greimel in theDemocratic Partyprimary election[8] andRepublican businesswoman Lena Epstein in the general election.[9] Her victory, and that ofElissa Slotkin in the neighboring 8th district, made it the first time since the 1930s that no Republicans representedOakland County in the House.[10]
Stevens andColin Allred, both alumni of theObama administration, were selected as co-presidents of the House Democratic freshman class of the116th United States Congress.[11]
An October 2019 town hall on curbing gun violence turned contentious as protesters at the Commerce Township gun club, where the event was held, interrupted Stevens and other lawmakers. Stevens said "This is why the NRA has got to go" in response to protestors repeatedly shouting "NRA" in reference to theNational Rifle Association.[12][13]
Hillary Clinton recorded a late robocall in support of her. Following the robocall, she moved from second place in pre-election polls to winning the election.Politico credited her robocalls for boosting Stevens' campaign.[14]
Stevens ran for reelection. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary.[15] In the general election, she defeated the Republican nominee, Eric Esshaki, in a tighter race than expected.[16]
In a 2020 floor speech, she shouted over the gavel of her own party saying that she was wearing pink latex gloves "not for personal attention" but to make a point about COVID.[17][13]
As a result of population loss, Michigan lost a seat in the United States House of Representatives. The 11th District lost its share of Wayne County and was safely Democratic. The home of fellow DemocratAndy Levin was drawn into the district, and Levin sought reelection there.[18][19] Stevens' home in Rochester Hills was drawn out of the district. She opted to move toWaterford and follow most of her constituents into the 11th, setting up a primary challenge against Levin.[20] She reportedly outspent Levin by a factor of five.[18] Much of her support was driven by the pro-Israel lobby which had spent $3 million on her campaign by July.[21] Other dynamics in the race included generational and gender dynamics in the aftermath of theSupreme Court'soverturning theRoe v. Wade andPlanned Parenthood v. Casey.[22] Stevens defeated Andy Levin, 60%-40%.[23][24][25] Her victory was aided by $5 million fromEMILY's List-affiliated donors[19] and by theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee, which invested $4.3 million targeting Levin and hailed her victory as proof that "being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics".[26][27][28] Despite its large spending against Levin, AIPAC's ads did not mention its motivation for supporting Stevens.[29]
Stevens won the general election against Republican Mark Ambrose with 61.3% of the vote.[30]
Stevens was challenged by Ahmed Ghanim in the Democratic primary. She won renomination with 87.1% of the vote.[31] In the general election, she won reelection against Republican Nick Somberg and Green Party candidate Douglas Campbell with 58.2% of the vote.[32] Stevens has the worstwins-above-replacement (WAR) rating among the six House Democrats from Michigan, according toSplit Ticket.[33]
Stevens voted in March 2023 with Democrats to oppose legislation proposed by Republicans to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.[34]
Following Joe Biden'sdebate with Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Stevens "unequivocally" supported Biden stating, "I trust our president and know he is the one to finish the job".[35] As Kamala Harris consolidated support as the new nominee after Biden dropped out, Stevens immediately endorsed her.[36]
In April 2025, Stevens announced that she would run in the2026 United States Senate election in Michigan, being vacated by the retiring incumbentGary Peters.[45] It was reported by multiple media outlets that her candidacy was backed by the Democratic Senate leadership, includingChuck Schumer andKirsten Gillibrand, and theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).[46][47][48][49][50]
Stevens is acentrist Democrat.[51][52][53][54] Stevens supported Democratic Senate minority leaderChuck Schumer's leadership after he backed a Republican-led stopgap funding bill in March 2025 to avoid a government shutdown, calling him "a great leader" who got Michigan investments through theCHIPS Act.[55]
Stevens supportscampaign finance reform, including sponsoring legislation to set and enforce limits on political spending, but has also not sworn off support, directly receiving $1.7 million from corporatepolitical action committees since 2018 after excluding outside spending.[56]
Stevens supports investments in manufacturing and technology along with workforce development programs, and is part of the Women inSTEM Caucus.[57]
Stevens voted to express gratitude forUnited States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid protests against the agency during theJune 2025 Los Angeles protests.[58] Stevens has supported legislation forundocumented workers and families to obtaindriver’s licenses in Michigan.[59]
Stevens visitedIsrael in 2019 and described the visit as transformative. She strongly opposes theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement "and all attempts todelegitimize Israel'sright to exist."[60] Stevens describes herself as a stalwart supporter of Israel, accusing its critics ofantisemitism and characterizing it as aJewish state, and voted to sanction theInternational Criminal Court in response to its issuingarrest warrants regardingwar crimes inGaza. Reflecting on her pro-Israel stance, she also said that "we've got to be very clear about who we are and need to stop making everyone happy at the expense of making no one happy".[61] She has received praise from thepro-Israel lobbyist organizationAIPAC for her support of Israel and described it as America's "strong ally", "a democracy, and a beacon of hope" in April 2025.[62]
Stevens lives inBirmingham, Michigan.[7] She and Rob Gulley, a software engineer she met in high school, were engaged in 2020.[63] They married on September 3, 2021.[64] On October 5, 2022, Stevens and Gulley announced their divorce.[65]
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Democratic | Haley Stevens | 24,309 | 26.97 | |
| Democratic | Tim Greimel | 19,673 | 21.83 | |
| Democratic | Suneel Gupta | 19,250 | 21.36 | |
| Democratic | Fayrouz Saad | 17,499 | 19.41 | |
| Democratic | Nancy Skinner | 9,407 | 10.44 | |
| Total votes | 90,138 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Democratic | Haley Stevens | 181,912 | 51.84 | |
| Republican | Lena Epstein | 158,463 | 45.16 | |
| Libertarian | Leonard Schwartz | 5,799 | 1.65 | |
| Independent | Cooper Nye | 4,727 | 1.35 | |
| Total votes | 350,901 | 100.0 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Haley Stevens (incumbent) | 226,128 | 50.20 | |
| Republican | Eric Esshaki | 215,405 | 47.82 | |
| Libertarian | Leonard Schwartz | 8,936 | 1.98 | |
| Total votes | 450,473 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Democratic | Haley Stevens (incumbent) | 70,508 | 59.94 | |
| Democratic | Andy Levin (incumbent) | 47,117 | 40.06 | |
| Total votes | 117,625 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Democratic | Haley Stevens (incumbent) | 224,537 | 61.32 | |
| Republican | Mark Ambrose | 141,642 | 38.68 | |
| Total votes | 366,179 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Democratic | Haley Stevens (incumbent) | 83,571 | 87.09 | |
| Democratic | Ahmed Ghanim | 12,391 | 12.91 | |
| Total votes | 95,962 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Democratic | Haley Stevens (incumbent) | 260,780 | 58.22 | |
| Republican | Nick Somberg | 177,432 | 39.61 | |
| Green | Douglas Campbell | 9,713 | 2.17 | |
| Total votes | 447,925 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
All four congressional districts with a footprint in Oakland County will be held by Democrats come Jan. 1, with both the 8th District and the 11th District flipping from Republican on Tuesday.
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 11th congressional district 2019–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 233rd | Succeeded by |
| People | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
