Midterm Candidate Profile: Haley Stevens — Picking Fights with Trump
Stevens has spent Trump’s second term writing the bills meant to rein him in. Here is the record, on the merits.
Michigan has two elections coming that matter well beyond Michigan. In August, Democrats choose a nominee for the U.S. Senate. In November, that nominee meets a MAGA Republican in a race that could decide which party runs the chamber. Gary Peters is retiring, the seat is open, and the road to a Senate majority runs straight through this state.
This is a look at one of the Democrats in that primary, Haley Stevens. I’m holding her to a single question here: what has she actually done about Donald Trump’s second term? I’ll take a look at the other candidates later; For now, here is her record, on the merits.
And if you are a Michigan voter, I’d love to know what you think.
Background
Stevens, 42, has represented Michigan’s 11th district, the Oakland County suburbs north of Detroit, since 2019. Before Congress she worked at the Treasury Department as chief of staff to President Obama’s auto rescue task force, the team that steered GM and Chrysler through bankruptcy. She ran a digital manufacturing institute, then flipped a Republican-held House seat in the 2018 midterms.
In Congress, she is a manufacturing and auto-industry specialist who sits on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and the panel on competition with China. The nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, a Vanderbilt and University of Virginia project, rated her the most effective Michigan Democrat in the House last Congress. That is the frame she runs on: a workhorse who moves bills.
The question is what she has done with that skill since January 2025. The answer is a string of bills and resolutions aimed directly at this administration. Here are five.
Blocking troops on American streets
In June 2025, Trump sent active-duty Marines and roughly 2,000 federalized National Guard troops into Los Angeles during protests over ICE raids, over the objection of the governor and local leaders. Stevens responded with the Stop Trump’s Abuse of Power Act, and she is the lead author.
The bill is narrow and direct. It would make it illegal for a president to deploy active-duty forces, or federalize the National Guard, into a state in response to peaceful protest without a request from that state’s governor. The Hill reported it first. When Trump later threatened to send troops to Chicago, Stevens and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi tried to force the same rule into law by attaching it as an amendment to the NDAA, the must-pass defense bill. Republican leaders kept it out, and the guardrail never made the final version. Her line: “We are a nation of laws and it’s about time the President begins to follow them.”
An independent prosecutor for ICE
After two U.S. citizens were killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis and a detainee died in custody at a facility in Baldwin, Michigan, Stevens introduced the Hold ICE Accountable Act in March 2026.
The bill would create an independent special prosecutor, modeled on the post-Watergate ethics law, to investigate unlawful conduct by ICE and DHS personnel. The prosecutor would operate outside Trump’s Justice Department, and the bill would strip qualified immunity from indicted officers. Stevens framed it plainly: this is “about accountability for an agency that hasn’t had any.”
Impeaching RFK Jr
In December 2025, Stevens introduced articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The articles cite his cuts to lifesaving medical research, his restrictions on vaccine access, and his record of spreading conspiracies about vaccines and autism.
This one is worth being straight about. It is a long shot, and it drew friction inside her own party, with House leadership declining to back it. Stevens went ahead anyway. The group Stand Up for Science endorsed the articles, and so did ten Nobel laureates, including chemistry and medicine winners like Jack Szostak, Craig Mello, and Roger Kornberg. “RFK Jr. has got to go,” she said. “I cannot and I will not stand by while one man dismantles decades of medical progress.”
Keeping Musk’s team out of your data
When the administration handed Elon Musk’s DOGE operation access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems, the systems that hold Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and tax data for millions of Americans, Stevens used her old Treasury experience to write the response.
The Taxpayer Data Protection Act, which she introduced with Rep. Sean Casten, would bar unauthorized people from those systems and require security clearances, ethics screening, and criminal penalties for violations. More than 140 Democrats signed on. Her argument: an “unelected billionaire with zero government experience should not have access to Americans’ most private data.”
Impeaching Kristi Noem
Stevens also called for the impeachment of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and cosponsored the resolution to do it, citing ICE killings, warrantless home entries, and stonewalling of Congress.
Of her five fights, this is the one with the broadest backing. The Noem resolution drew more than 187 Democratic cosponsors, over three-quarters of the caucus, which you can verify on Congress.gov.
On balance
None of these five initiatives became law. The House is run by Republicans, and bills like these do not get floor votes there. Critics, including some Democrats, call that performative. The fairer read is that Congress is a team sport, and a member in the minority has limited tools, and these are the tools: bills, resolutions, and the public record they create.
Stevens is also a center-left member who takes corporate PAC money, and she has drawn fair criticism for it. AIPAC has significantly backed her campaigns. NBC News reported that she kept $50,000 in PAC contributions tied to Musk’s SpaceX even while building a campaign around opposing him. That is a real tension, and you are entitled to weigh it. I’m not here to tell you she is flawless. I’m here to show you what she has done.
What is on the other side of November
Whoever wins the August primary likely faces Mike Rogers, the former congressman and House Intelligence Committee chair who narrowly lost the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin and is running again with Trump’s endorsement. Rogers has aligned himself fully with Trump, backs the tariffs that Stevens warns could “crash the auto industry,” and opposed extending the health-insurance subsidies that millions rely on.
That is the choice the fall sets up. A senator who spent this term writing bills to limit Trump’s power, against one who spent it promising to expand it.
Bottom line
I want my kids to grow up understanding that holding the powerful accountable is not somebody else’s job. It is the job. When a president puts soldiers on American streets that did not ask for them, or hands a billionaire the keys to your private data, the question is not whether you find it upsetting. The question is who picks up a pen and tries to stop it.
On this term’s record, Haley Stevens has picked up the pen several times. If you live in Michigan, you get to decide what that is worth.
And I’d like to know what you think.
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Sources
“Michigan Dem to introduce bill limiting presidential power to deploy troops on US soil,” The Hill, June 23, 2025. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5363604-haley-stevens-bill-trump-military/
“Michigan Congresswoman eyes legislation to curb Trump military deployments on U.S. soil,” Michigan Advance, June 23, 2025. https://michiganadvance.com/2025/06/23/michigan-congresswoman-eyes-legislation-to-curb-trump-military-deployments-on-u-s-soil/
“Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens proposes bill for independent investigations into ICE misconduct,” WZZM 13, March 27, 2026. https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/michigan-congresswoman-haley-stevens-proposes-bill-independent-investigations-into-ice-misconduct/69-e4c77146-d29f-4aa7-8530-67a89265b77a
“ICYMI: Rep. Stevens Introduces the Hold ICE Accountable Act,” Office of Rep. Haley Stevens, March 2026. https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-rep-stevens-introduces-hold-ice-accountable-act-establish-independent
“House Democrat files impeachment article against RFK Jr.,” NBC News, December 10, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/haley-stevens-impeachment-articles-rfk-jr-health-secretary-rcna248270
“Haley Stevens files articles of impeachment against RFK Jr.,” The Hill, December 10, 2025. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5642314-haley-stevens-rfk-jr-impeachment-articles/
“Democratic infighting erupts over Trump, RFK Jr. and Hegseth impeachment,” Axios, December 11, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/12/11/impeachment-haley-stevens-rfk-democrats-trump
“Musk, DOGE access to Treasury systems targeted in House Democrats’ bill,” FedScoop, February 7, 2025. https://fedscoop.com/elon-musk-doge-treasury-payments-systems-house-bill/
“Colorado Democrats join bill to protect taxpayer data following Musk breach,” Colorado Newsline, February 11, 2025. https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/jason-crow-joins-bill-musk-breach/
“Rep. Haley Stevens Calls for Kristi Noem’s Impeachment,” Office of Rep. Haley Stevens, January 21, 2026. https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-haley-stevens-calls-kristi-noems-impeachment-following-ice-killing
“Over three-fourths of House Democrats support Rep. Kelly’s impeachment articles against Noem,” Office of Rep. Robin Kelly, January 27, 2026. https://robinkelly.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/over-three-fourths-house-democrats-support-rep-kellys-impeachment
H.Res. 996 cosponsors, Congress.gov, 119th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/996/cosponsors
“Stevens and Peters recognized as most effective lawmakers in key policy areas,” The Michigan Independent. https://michiganindependent.com/politics/stevens-and-peters-recognized-as-most-effective-lawmakers-in-key-policy-areas/
“Haley Stevens runs for Michigan’s open US Senate seat,” WDET, February 19, 2026. https://wdet.org/2026/02/19/haley-stevens-runs-for-michigans-open-us-senate-seat/
“Tariffs could crash U.S. auto industry, MI congresswoman says,” WDET, February 6, 2025. https://wdet.org/2025/02/06/michigan-congresswoman-says-tariffs-on-canadian-and-mexican-products-could-crash-u-s-auto-industry/
“Haley Stevens, an Elon Musk critic, keeps SpaceX PAC money in key Michigan Senate race,” NBC News, June 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/haley-stevens-elon-musk-critic-keeps-spacex-pac-money-key-michigan-sen-rcna351252
“The Senate: The Race for the Majority,” Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Center for Politics. https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/the-senate-the-race-for-the-majority-is-not-a-toss-up-but-the-races-that-will-decide-it-are/
I live in Michigan. I cannot support Haley Stevens. I have a close friend whose daughter worked for Ms. Stevens. According to the daughter, Ms. Stevens has no redeeming qualities and is not good to her workers.
I know Ms. Stevens accepts AIPAC monies. That is disheartening.
I am supporting Abdul El-Sayed. I have been to Mr. El-Sayed’s presentations; fly specked his platform; and, his qualifications. In my opinion, Abdul is the real deal and should be the person elected to represent Michigan.
I encourage you to do more research into Abdul.
Here's the thing for me - I am looking to elect individuals who do not take PAC money, especially AIPAC and anything from Musk and all those ultra wealthy tech billionaires who hang around with Trump, and who denouce rhe genocide being inflicted on rhe Palestinians by Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and their cruel racist cronies. Israel has plenty of its own money and resources so it doesn't need ours. It is an independent country that must stand on its own two feet; we don't support any other country as though it was our offspring like we do Israel. The money and resources being spent there should be redirected to support the poor and underpriveledged here. That being said, I supported two progressive (not radical) congressional democrats who had great platforms addressing our current problems in the primaries in my NY district to run against Mike Lawlyer. They did not take any PAC money, called what was happening in Gaza a genocide, and only raised $700-900K each. I did vote for the one who I felt was a little clearer about his platform than the other. Unfortunately they were up against Cait Conley, a former member of the Biden administration, who was not as progressive and took a ton of pack money, raising over 3 million. She won the primary. Although I am disappointed with her being the democratic candidate, the priority right at this moment is to get rid of Lawler, a Trump loyalist and sycophant, so I have to be realistic and vote for Conley this time to crush any MAGA incumbents and work harder the next go around to help those better progressive candidates raise money and gain more visibility. The goal right now is to vote out as many Republicans who support Trump and MAGA by voting for whatever democrat or progressive independent candidate can beat them in each district- once that's done, we can refine our success by incrementaly voting in more and more true progressives and democratic socialists with each election cycle.