{"id":783022,"date":"2026-07-25T03:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/783022\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T03:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:23:10","slug":"gov-whitmer-endorses-haley-stevens-in-michigan-senate-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/783022\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Whitmer endorses Haley Stevens in Michigan Senate primary"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT (AP) \u2014 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens<\/a> in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Friday, in a race with Abdul El-Sayed<\/a> that has become a focal point for the party\u2019s fight between its moderate establishment and progressive wings. <\/p>\n

Whitmer remains popular in the battleground state, where she has twice won by substantial margins, and her endorsement gives Stevens a significant boost a day before early in-person voting begins. Whitmer also has history with El-Sayed, whom she defeated in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor.<\/p>\n

The second-term governor appeared with Stevens and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn in Detroit on Friday, repeating her endorsement in front of more than 100 people at a Teamsters hall. She said Steven has \u201cwhat it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMichiganders need a fighter in Washington and there are few leaders with more fight in \u2019em than Haley Stevens,\u201d Whitmer said, who left the event without taking questions from reporters. <\/p>\n

Stevens has pitched herself as a Democrat who has won tough elections, including flipping a Republican-held House seat. She has been backed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a two-term Democrat who is retiring from the seat.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s in a tight race for the Democratic nomination against El-Sayed, a progressive whose supporters include Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe corporate establishment has closed ranks and made their pick \u2013 now, Michigan voters will get to make theirs,\u201d said Roxie Richner, a spokesperson for El-Sayed.<\/p>\n

The winner of the Aug. 4 primary will face Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in November for a critical, battleground Senate seat. Democrats are hoping to flip the Senate in November, and Michigan remains a key part of their plan.<\/p>\n

Stevens is a four-term congresswoman from the Detroit area. Her candidacy has benefited from tens of millions in spending by outside political groups, including nearly $30 million<\/a> from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supports pro-Israel candidates.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed, who accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, has criticized Stevens for taking money from AIPAC.<\/p>\n

Whitmer is a term-limited governor who isn\u2019t on the ballot this fall, though she has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. She is the best-known politician in Michigan. <\/p>\n

Whitmer had long weighed the decision. Stevens\u2019 success winning in a competitive district, including converting the GOP-held seat for Democrats in 2018, was among the factors in the endorsement, according to a person who was familiar with the governor\u2019s deliberations but was not authorized to discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT (AP) \u2014 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[164749,21491,51190,23,282636,8634,31673,1070,38003,793,3138,8633,8628,26911,1305,1303,21486,3,136212,111,21490,8638,21,19,11162,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-783022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-2026-elections","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","tag-america","tag-american-israel-public-affairs-committee","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-chris-van-hollen","tag-elections","tag-gary-peters","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-gretchen-whitmer","tag-james-clyburn","tag-liberalism","tag-mi-state-wire","tag-michigan","tag-mike-rogers","tag-news","tag-political-endorsements","tag-politics","tag-senate-elections","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-united-states-senate","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}