Haley Maria Stevens is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 11th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens represents most of urbanized Oakland County, including many of Detroit's northern suburbs. She ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2026 U.S. Senate election in Michigan, losing to Abdul El-Sayed.
Haley Maria Stevens (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 11th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens represents most of urbanized Oakland County, including many of Detroit's northern suburbs. She ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2026 U.S. Senate election in Michigan, losing to Abdul El-Sayed.
Stevens was born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and was first raised there before moving with her mother to Birmingham, Michigan, while in middle school after her parents' divorce. She went to Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills for a year, then attended Seaholm High School in Birmingham, graduating from there in 2001. Afterwards, she enrolled at American University in Washington, D.C., from which she received a Bachelor of Arts in political science and philosophy in 2005 and a Master of Arts in social policy and philosophy in 2007.
In 2006, she was hired by the Michigan Democratic Party as a field organizer. She then began working for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. She transitioned to Barack Obama's presidential campaign after Obama won the Democratic primaries.
In 2009, Steven Rattner hired Stevens to join the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry. Stevens then served as director of a manufacturing innovation and economic growth program in Louisville, Kentucky. Afterward, she served as a director of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, where she helped launch America's first online training program in manufacturing and design technology. Stevens returned to Michigan in early 2017.
Stevens moved back to Rochester Hills to run for the United States House of Representatives seat in Michigan's 11th congressional district, launching her bid to unseat two-term Republican Dave Trott on April 27, 2017. While his spokesperson initially called Stevens a "carpetbagger", Stevens argued that she was born and raised in Southeast Michigan, and had spent her early career working for Michigan. Trott announced his retirement in September 2017, making the 11th district an open seat. Stevens defeated state Representative Tim Greimel in the Democratic Party primary election and Republican businesswoman Lena Epstein in the general election. In August 2018, Stevens was named as part of the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which focused on flipping U.S. House districts by ousting Republicans, joining fellow Michiganders Elissa Slotkin and Gretchen Driskell. 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's campaign. Stevens was also endorsed by President Obama, who called her a "critical part" of his administration's efforts to bail out the auto industry. Stevens's victory, and that of Elissa Slotkin in the neighboring 8th district, made it the first time since the 1930s that no Republicans represented Oakland County in the House.
Stevens and Colin Allred, both alumni of the Obama administration, were selected as co-presidents of the House Democratic freshman class of the 116th United States Congress.
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 protesters repeatedly shouting "NRA" in reference to the National Rifle Association.
Stevens ran for reelection. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary. In the general election, she defeated the Republican nominee, Eric Esshaki, in a tighter race that saw early ad spending from Republican-allied Congressional Leadership Fund.
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.
As a result of population loss, Michigan lost a seat in the House of Representatives. The 11th District lost its share of Wayne County and was safely Democratic. The home of fellow Democrat Andy Levin was drawn into the district, and Levin sought reelection there, despite the majority of his old district being in the newly-designated 10th Congressional District. Stevens, whose home in Rochester Hills was drawn out of the district, moved with her husband to a home in Waterford, opting to follow most of her constituents into the 11th and setting up a primary challenge against Levin. She reportedly outspent Levin by a factor of five. Much of her support was driven by the pro-Israel lobby, which had spent $3 million on her campaign by July. Other dynamics in the race included generational and gender dynamics in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's overturning the Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Stevens defeated Levin, 60%-40%. Her campaign focused on protecting reproductive rights and her background as a proponent of Michigan manufacturing, the state's dominant industry. Her victory was aided by $5 million from EMILY's List-affiliated donors and by the American 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". AIPAC's ads did not mention its motivation for supporting Stevens.
Stevens won the general election against Republican Mark Ambrose with 61.3% of the vote.
Stevens was challenged by Ahmed Ghanim in the Democratic primary. She won renomination with 87.1% of the vote. In the general election, she won reelection against Republican Nick Somberg and Green Party candidate Douglas Campbell with 58.2% of the vote.
Stevens voted in March 2023 with Democrats to oppose legislation proposed by Republicans to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
Following Joe Biden's debate with Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Stevens "unequivocally" supported Biden, saying, "I trust our president and know he is the one to finish the job". As Kamala Harris consolidated support as the new nominee after Biden dropped out, Stevens immediately endorsed her.
Committee on Education and Labor
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
United States House Education Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Subcommittee on Energy
Subcommittee on Research and Technology (Ranking Member)
Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
Black Maternal Health Caucus
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Congressional Equality Caucus
Congressional Ukraine Caucus
New Democrat Coalition
Problem Solvers Caucus
Rare Disease Caucus
In April 2025, Stevens announced that she would run in the 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan for the seat being vacated by retiring incumbent Gary Peters. Multiple media outlets reported that her candidacy was backed by the Democratic Senate leadership, including Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). She was endorsed by Representative Jim Clyburn. She lost the nomination to Abdul El-Sayed in the state's Democratic primary.
Stevens is a centrist Democrat. She supported Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck 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 billions of dollars in investments through the CHIPS and Science Act.
Stevens says she supports campaign finance reform and that her record "speaks for itself". She has sponsored campaign finance legislation including the For The People Act, which passed the House in 2019 but did not become law, and a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Congress and the states to set and enforce limits on political giving, which would effectively undo the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. She has not pledged to reject corporate PAC contributions in her own campaigns, and received $1.7 million from corporate political action committees between 2018 and 2025.
During the 2026 Democratic primary for Michigan's United States Senate seat, United Democracy Project, an AIPAC-affiliated group, spent $15 million on advertising as of July 13, 2026, in support of Stevens and in opposition to her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed. Another Super PAC, A Stronger Michigan, spent $12 million in support of Stevens. A Stronger Michigan is reported to have ties to Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
Stevens opposes frequently changing tariffs, saying that they create uncertainty and threaten Michigan jobs. She supports strategically designed tariffs to help America be competitive with China's manufacturing.
Stevens supports federal investment in manufacturing and technology along with workforce development programs, and is a member of the Women in STEM Caucus.
Stevens supports regime change in Iran but opposes the 2026 Iran war. She has called Iran a "state sponsor of terrorism across the globe", but believes the U.S. Constitution must be followed in first convening and informing Congress.
In July 2026, Stevens denied that President Donald Trump's actions in Iran were due to Israel's influence, saying, "Donald Trump is gonna do what Donald Trump does. And I think it's a fool's run to place blame on him supposedly being dictated by others. What is clear is that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, have failed in the goal of long-term peace. They have both failed."
Stevens visited Israel in 2019 and described the visit as transformative. She strongly opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement "and all attempts to delegitimize Israel's right to exist". Stevens describes herself as a stalwart supporter of Israel, accusing its critics of antisemitism and characterizing it as a Jewish state, and voted to sanction the International Criminal Court in response to its issuing arrest warrants regarding war crimes in Gaza. 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". At a 2023 Hanukkah menorah lighting, she said, "Israel comes to me in my dreams. I see Israel's future, and I know that Israel will continue to exist for the Jewish people."
Stevens has received praise from the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC for her support of Israel and described it as America's "strong ally", "a democracy, and a beacon of hope" in April 2025. She accepted the support of the pro-Israel lobby group Democratic Majority for Israel in 2026, describing herself as a "proud pro-Israel Democrat".
When asked what her acceptance of campaign contributions from AIPAC donors meant in May 2026, Stevens did not answer the question, instead saying her campaign is "a love letter to our state" and highlighting endorsements from Democratic Party officials without mentioning Israel or AIPAC.
In July 2026, Stevens voted against an amendment to end $3.3 billion in annual US funding for Israel for military support. When asked twice about AIPAC, she did not mention the group in a lengthy response, and mentioned Israel once when she said she "wanted to see the U.S. and Israel working together to rebuild Gaza". In a September 2026 interview, she described anti-Zionism as "a hate movement that has taken over in America and throughout parts of the West."
Stevens voted for a resolution that condemned the 2025 Boulder fire attack that killed one and expressed gratitude for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and called for more state and local collaboration with them amid protests against the agency during the June 2025 Los Angeles protests. Stevens opposes abolishing ICE and instead supports "reining" it in.
Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in December 2025, saying he "has turned his back on science, on public health, and on the American people—spreading conspiracies and lies, driving up costs, and putting lives at risk."
Stevens and Rob Gulley, a software engineer she met in high school, became engaged in June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they waited until September 3, 2021, to wed. Guests, who were required to have a negative COVID test, included Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel officiated the wedding. On October 5, 2022, Stevens and Gulley announced their divorce. On August 26, 2026, Stevens announced her engagement to Huntington Woods, Michigan attorney Jason Turkish.
Stevens lives in Birmingham, Michigan. She is a Protestant.
