Michigan has been a pipeline for women in power. Will that continue in 2026?
This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy.
A competitive U.S. Senate race is shaping up in Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters' retirement has opened up a seat in a key swing state.
The top contenders for the Democratic nomination are Rep. Haley Stevens, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2018, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. McMorrow is seen as a rising star in the party who went viral and gained national attention in 2022 for a rousing, impassioned floor speech she gave rebuking a Republican lawmaker who, in a fundraising email, baselessly accused her of wanting to 'groom' kindergarteners and 'teach that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery.'
Also running in the Democratic primary are state Rep. Joe Tate, former speaker of the Michigan House, and Abdul El-Sayed, the former Wayne County health director and 2018 candidate for governor.
On the Republican side, former Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost the 2024 Senate race to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, is running again. GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga is also expected to jump in the race.
Michigan is a perennial presidential battleground state: President Donald Trump won it in 2016, former Democratic President Joe Biden put the state back in the Democratic column in 2020 and Trump flipped it back in 2024. But over the last 30 years, the state has consistently elected Democrats to the Senate — the last time the state sent a Republican senator to Washington was 1994.
The state has long been a pipeline for women Democratic leaders, from former Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Debbie Dingell to Slotkin; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 presidential candidate; Attorney General Dana Nessel; Rep. Hillary Scholten; and prominent progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Rep. Lisa McClain, the Republican Conference chair in the House, also hails from Michigan.
If either Stevens or McMorrow wins the primary and the general, Michigan would add to the number of states represented in the Senate by two women simultaneously. There are currently four such states — Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada and Washington.
Republicans currently control the Senate by a three-seat majority, 53 to 47, and Senators serve six-year terms, meaning a third of the Senate is up every election cycle. For Democrats to win back the chamber in 2026, they'd need to hold competitive seats in states like Georgia and Michigan while flipping four GOP-held seats in Maine, North Carolina and even more Republican-leaning states like Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas.
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